RELIGION    AND   MORALITY, 


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'1. 


THOUGHTS 


RELIGION  AND  MORALITY 


'HE   EXISTENCE  OF  GOD,  HIS  CHARACTER  AND  RELATIONS  TO 

HUMANITY:    RELIGIOUS  DUTIES  GROWING  OUT  OF 

HUMAN  RELATIONS  WITH  GOD:    MORALITY 

AND  OUR  RELATIONS  WITH 

EACH  OTHER: 


BEING  CONVICTIONS,  PRINCIPLES  AND  DUTIES  WHICH  THE  AUTHOR  DESIRES, 
IN  SO  FAR  AS  IS  CONSISTENT  WITH  FREEDOM  OF  THOUGHT  AND 
EXPRESSION,  SHOULD  BE  INCULCATED  AT  THE  BELL  STREET  CHAPEL, 
PROVIDENCE,  R.  I. 


JAMES  EDDY. 


PROVIDENCE,  R. 
1891. 


COPYRIGHTED,  1891, 
BY  SARAH  J.  EDDY. 


PRINTED  BY  J.    A.   &    R.   A.   REID. 


"Lei  u>  ad«re  th;il  Divine  Sun  from  Whom  flow  rav>  of  Light  and 
Jov  :  from  Whom  all  do  proceed,  in  Whom  all  live  anew,  To  Whom  all 
must  return.  Mav  He  rule  our  thoughts  aspiring  to  His  Sacred  Heart." 


God  of  the  granite  and  the  rose  ! 

Soul  of  the  sparrow  and  the  bee  ! 
The  mighty  tide  of  being  flows 

Through  countless  channels,  Lord,  from  Thee. 
It  leaps  to  life  in  grass  and  flowers ; 

Through  every  grade  of  Being  runs, 
Till  from  Creation's  radiant  towers 

Its  glory  flames  in  Stars  and  Suns." 


"  O  Thou  whose  love  is  changeless,  both  now  and  evermore 
Source  of  all  conscious  being,  Thy  goodness  I  adore. 
Lord,  I  would  ever  praise  Thee,  for  all  Thy  love  can  give, 
But  most  of  all,  O  Father,  I  thank  Thee  that  I  live." 


DEDICATION. 

Believing  it  to  be  a  duty  to  make  known  and  dedicate-  to 
humanity  all  of  our  honest  thought  which  we  consider  would 
advance,  even  in  a  slight  decree,  the  well-being  of  mankind,  I 
so  dedicate  this  little  volume  of  guiding  principles  in  religion 
and  morality.  My  first  'feeling  in  this  dedication  of  what  are 
to  me  Ihe  best  and  highest  thoughts  upon  God  and  our  rela- 
tions to  Him,  is  naturally  towards  my  own  children,  to  whom 

onr  Divine  Father  has  tied  my  heart  with   cords   of  love  and 

* 
affection. 

And  after  them  sweet  memories  of  my  deceased  parents 
flit  through  my  mind ;  those  parents  who  were  the  honored 
agents  of  God  in  giving  me  life,  and  who  never  betrayed  the 
trust  reposed  in  them,  but  gave  to  their  children  honestly  and 
earnestly  the  best  education  in  religious  and  moral  truth  which 
they  were  fitted  at  that  time  to  impart:  as,  with  equal  sincerity 
and  earnestness,  their  son  presents  in  this  book,  which  he 
dedicates  to  their  memory,  his  own  best  knowledge  of  our 
relations  with  God  and  with  each  other.  I  feel  a  desire  also 


DEDICATION. 

to  dedicate  my  thoughts  as  expressed  in  these  pages  In  my 
family  kindred,  and  to  all  my  friends  and  aeqiiainlanees  1>\ 
whom  1  have  had  the  advantage1  to  be  known. 

T  dedicate  this  little  volume  also  to  the  charitable'  consider- 
ation of  all  moral  and  religious  teachers,  and  to  all  thought  fill 
people  throughout  the  world,  feeling  satisfaction  in  the  hope 
that  a  few  readers  may  find  herein  some  kernels  of  truth  to 
add  to  their  own  earnest  and  honest  convictions  in  regard  to 
our  highest  duties. 

And  lastly,  using  the  freedom  with  which  I  feel  myself  to 
be  endowed,  I  would  reverently,  gratefully,  lovingly,  with  all 
honor,  dedicate  my  honest  thought  to  our  Divine  Father  who 
in  His  noble  disinterestedness,  asks  from  us  no  homage,  no 
sacrifice  for  Himself,  but  only  desires  the  well-being  of  all  His 
creatures ! 


EDITOR'S   NOTE. 

This  volume  has  been  selected   and   compiled  from  a  large 
and   wholly  nnarranged  mass  of  manuscript    writings  left   by 

Mr.  James  Eddy.     Great  care  has  been  taken  to  keep  as  far 

• 
as  possible  both  the  thought  and  wording  of  the  Author:   but 

the  order  and  some  of  the  phrasing  of  the  book  have  been 
necessarily  the  contribution  of  the  Editor,  in  the  interest  of 
clearness  and  good  form. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


\UTOBIOGRAPHICAI     AND    PREFATORY    NOTES. 


SECTION   I. 


The  Revelation  of  God  in  Nature  and  in  Human  Lite : 
Man's  True  Relation  to  God. 


NATURH  A«ND  LIFE:    MIND  AND  MATTER,  .  .  35 

LAWS  AND  PHENOMENA, 39 

KNOWLEDGE  OF  GOD  AND  OUR    RELATIONS  TO  HIM:    MAN'S 

YEARNING  AND  GROPING  AFTER  GOD,       ...  49 

MAN'S  NEED  OF  A  REASONABLE  GOD,         ....  52 

DIVINE  AGENCIES, 57 

THE  CHARACTER  OF  GOD,          .        .   .          '..          .  .  60 

GOD  REQUIRES  NO  GRATITUDE,  .  .  65 

TO  GOD  WE  OWE  THE  GREAT  GIFT  OF  LIFE,    .  .  68 

WHAT  CAN  MAN  RENDER  TO  HIS  GOD?  OR  GRATITUDE   AND 

OBEDIENCE  TOWARD  GOD,  .  .  .  .  70 

GOD  OUR  FATHER,  ...  .  .  76 


SECTION   II. 


Man's  Powers  and  Duties. 


MAX'S   FREEDOM   AM)    RESPONSIBILITY,  Si 

THOUGHTS   ON    THE    LAWS    OF    NATURE:     WHY    DO    CHIL- 
DREN DIE?                          -            -  Sy 

THE    LIMITATIONS   OF    HUMAN    FRFFDOM,       .  ,>? 

HUMAN    REASON   AND   JUDGMENT,  103 

LIBERTY    IN   THINKING,            .  105 

THE    LAW   OH    HUMAN   GROWTH,  107 

CONSCIENCE,        ....  nr 
THE    ELEMENTS   OF    A   NOBLE    CHARACTER,        .                       .117 

JUSTICE,       .                                                          ...  122 

TRUTH,  124 
FAITH,            .                                   .                                   .            .                       .126 

HOPE,       ...  ,29 

HUMOR ....  131 

CHARITY,            ...                       .....  132 

ANIMALS,      .                       .                       135 

SOCIAL    REFORMS:     TEMPERANCE,     .           .            ...            .  137 

THE   CONSTITUTIONAL   LIQUOR   AMENDMENT,        .                      .  138 

CONCERNING  CHILDREN  AND  THEIR  RIGHTS,      .                      .  139 

EDUCATION   OF  CHJLDREN,                                                                    .  144 


SECTION   III. 

Religions   of  the  Past,  the  Present  and  the    Future. 

SYSTEMS   OF    RELIGION,         -  I4() 

LEADERS   OF   THOUGHT,              ...                       .  ,;3 

THE    CHRISTIAN    RELIGION:    ITS   TRUTHS    AND    ERRORS;  1*56 

SAINTS    AND   SINNERS,        .                                               .            .  159 

WANTED:    A    BETTER   SYSTEM   OF    RELIGION,                                  .  r7i 

CLOUDS    BREAKING,                                  .                                  .  178 

THOUGHTS    IN   REGARD   TO   A    NEW    RELIGION,       .                       .  191 

RELIGIOUS    DUTIES,            ....  ,97 

AFFIRMATIONS    OF    PRINCIPLES,                ...                        .  r98 

IMMORTALITY,            ...  203 

PRAYERS  TO  GOD,        .                                                                   .           .  211 

CREEDS,                                                                                            .           .  213 

ON  THE   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION   OF   CHILDREN:    OR   A   LES- 
SON  ON  THE    PATERNAL   CHARACTER   OF   GOD,         .            .  221 

BELL  STREET   CHAPEL, 227 

GUIDING   PRINCIPLES   PROPOSED   AS  THE    BASIS;  OF    A    NEW 

RELIGIOUS  SOCIETY.        ...                      ...  229 

INVOCATIONS   AND  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS,                      .           .  237 

ADDENDA, -255 

AXIOMATIC  STATEMENTS, 263 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL 


AND 


PREFATORY     NOTES 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL 


AND- 


PREFATORY    NOTES 


Born  in  LS(M),  I  am  DOW  an  old  man,  the*  eleventh  of  twelve 
children.  My  parents  have  long  since  passed  away,  and  I.  in 
my  eighty-second  year,  am  the  only  remaining  child  of  their 
union. 

I  loved  my  Mother:  what  she  instilled  into  my  mind  as  the 
truth  I  accepted  as  such;  and  all  she  taught,  and  all  James 
Wilson  our  Minister  taught  from  the  pulpit,  was  endorsed  by 
my  Father;  and  being  a  susceptible  child  what  is  called  relig- 
ious truth  .was  deeply  impressed  on  my  mind. 

My  parents  were  poor,  industrious,  honest  and  respectabk1. 
For  sixty  years  of  their  long  lives  they  were  members  of  the 
Congregational  Church  in  Providence.  They  were  sincere 
and  full  of  Christian  faith,  and  taught  me  to  believe  as  they 
did.  So  that  in  a  sense  I  was  born  an  Orthodox  Christian 
boy,  and  for  many  years  I  was  as  true  as  steel,  as  a  child 
ought  to  be  when  taught  by  loving  parents,  to  the  tenets  and 
principles  of  religion  held  by  them.  Later  on  in  youth  I 
began  to  think  for  myself  in  matters  of  religion;  and  contin- 
ued reflection  gradually  modified  these  inherited  views  essen- 
tially. 

13 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  AM) 

My  mind  lias  especially  dwell  upon  religious  subjects  dur- 
ing the  latter  part  of  my  lii'e,  and  now  that  I  am  "Tivinir 

tt  1  */ 

upon  borrowed  time,"  I  feel  a  great  desire  before  leaving  thi> 
world  to  present  to  others  some  of  my  ideas  upon  Religion 
and  Morality. 

It  is  not  so  important  to  my  mind  that  my  views  be 
accepted,  as  that  I  should  conscientiously  perform  my  duty  in 
presenting  them  to  my  fellow  creatures.  For  however  small 
our  taper  of  light  may  be,  we  are  not  justified  in  hiding  it ; 
and  believing  sincerely  that  my  convictions  are  true,  I  fee1!  I 
should  share  them  with  others. 

I  believe  that  if  the  ideas  of  Religion  which  fill  my  mind 
were  generally  adopted,  old  things  would  pass  away,  and  a 
new  earth  and  a  new  conception  of  Heaven  upon  this  earth, 
would  be  created. 

Old  age  is  proverbially  garrulous,  and  I  now  like  to  talk 
as  a  brook  likes  to  flow:  but  soon  the  ocean  of  Eternity  will 
swallow  me  up,  and  before  I  vanish  I  would  like  to  aid  in 
establishing  a  more  reasonable  religious  faith  than  that  which 
now  prevails.  Not  having  received  what  is  termed  a  liberal 
education,  I  find  myself  unable  to  express  in  the  forcible  lan- 
guage which  their  importance  demands,  many  ideas  which  flit 
through  my  mind.  But  I  feel  it  a  duty  to  do  the  best  I  can. 
I  have  much  on  my  mind  other  than  the  subjects  on  which  I 
feel  I  ought  to  write,  so  that  I  fear  I  shall  not  succeed  in  set- 
ting down  even  in  my  poor  way  all  that  I  desire  to  say;  since 
only  those  who  have  arrived  at  my  time  of  life  can  comprehend 
the  positive  inability  of  old  age  to  perform  the  mental  and  phys- 

14 


PREFATORY   NOTES. 

ical  labor  which  voimger  person-  can  so  well  do,  especially 
when  ihcir  education  permit-  them  to  easily  express  their 
thoughts.  When  one  ha-  arrived  at  the  -unset  period  o!'  life, 
how  j iat lira!  il  is  for  him  to  drop  into  hi.-  rocking  chair  to  reflect 
and  to  do/e  a\va\  the  time;  and  if  his  o\vu  failing  eyes  forbid 
their  use,  to  be  blessed  in  finding  a  kind  daughter  or  i'riend  to 
I'ead  to  him  the  morning  paper. 

In  old  age  there  is  perhaps  no  literature  more  interesting 
than  the  daily  news  from  the  outside  world.  The  old  man  lives 
on  recollections  of  the  past,  and  having  outgrown  activity  and 
become  rich  in  experience,  his  interest  in  the  world  is  kept 
alive  by  the  events  of  the  hour. 

I  realize  painfully  my  own  disposition  to  procrastinate  in 
the  task  of  writing  out  my  views  upon  Religion  and  Morals. 
My  parents  each  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty-two,  and  as  I 
am  past  eight}*  I  am  not  justified  in  expecting  to  live  much  lon- 
ger in  good  health.  And  with  so  little  time  in  prospect  I  am 
dismayed  to  see  that  I  fail  to  achieve  what  my  reason  and  con- 
science constantly  urge  me  to  do  in  this  matter.  Should  I 
never  accomplish  the  work  1  have  so  much  at  heart,  it  will 
serve  as  a  warning  to  others  to  work  in  the  fulness  of  their 
strength,  while  the  sun  shines,  and  not  wait  until  clutched  by 
the  spirit  of  procrastination  which  rapidly  eats  up  the  little 
balance  of  time  and  strength  allowed  to  an  old  man. 

Inspired  by  moral  and  religious  sentiments  several  years 
since,  I  built  a  church  or  chapel  in  Bell  Street  near  my  own 
residence.  I  was  especially  influenced  to  do  this  by  attending 
for  several  years  previous,  the  meetings  in  Providence  of  the 

15 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  AND 

so-called  "Free  Religious  Society."  These  meeting  were 
addressed  by  such  men  as  Win.  J.  Pot  tor.  Mi1.  Wasson,  Sam. 
Johnson,  F.  E.  Abbot,  A.  B.  Alcott.  1>.  F.  I'nderwood,  John 
Weiss,  William  C.  Gannett  and  others.  These  speakers  were 
all  eminent  as  honest  independent  thinkers.  They  all  gave  us 
of  their  best  thoughts,  and  they  arc-  all  sincere  and  intelligent 
men,  and  I  shall  always  remember  them  with  respect  and  grati- 
tude. As  most  of  these  speakers  came  from  out  of  the  city, 
I  often  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  entertaining  them  at  my  home. 
This  gajre  me  a  chance  of  becoming  personally  acquainted 
with  many  of  them,  and  their  acquaintance  I  shall  always 
value. 

Although  thus  prizing  the  lectures  and  the  meetings  of  the 
Free  Religious  Society,  I  could  never  join  the  Association, 
since  to  my  view,  it  was  not  based  upon  sufficiently  definite 
principles  to  be  truly  entitled  to  the  name  "Religious/'  I  have 
for  years  believed  that  the  time  has  now  come  to  lay  the  foun- 
dations of  a  new  religion  materially  modified  from  all  existing 
systems  of  popular  faith.  I  believe  that  as  the  human  mind 
matures  by  the  exercise  of  reflection,  and  through  collective 
experience,  the  inevitable  changes  which  result  in  our  religious 
convictions  should  be  embodied  in  religious  organizations, 
whose  creeds,  or  codified  statements  of  guiding  principles, 
harmonize  with  other  forms  of  mental  evolution. 

I  believe  that  each  and  all  have  the  right  to  exercise  free- 
dom in  expressing,  by  speech  and  in  writing,  their  convictions 
of  Truth  and  Duty :  and  using  that  freedom,  since  there  are 
various  definitions  and  notions  in  regard  to  the  meaning  of  the 

16 


PREFATORY   XOTES. 

words  .Religion  and  Morality,  I  will  begin  by  defining  the 
meaning  which  I  attach  to  them,  and  to  which  all  my  reason- 
ing- will  he  adjusted. 

RELIGION. 

Religion  is  the  performance  of  all  duties  growing  out  of 
our  relations  with  God. 

MORALITY. 

Morality  is  the  performance  of  all  duties  growing  out  of 
our  relations  with  our  fellow-men  and  all  other  creatures. 

To  have  relations  with  a  power  higher  than  man  presup- 
poses the  existence  of  that  power.  And  to  my  mind  the 
assumption  of  a  wise  and  good  God  lies  at  the  foundation  of 
all  Religion,  and  a  religious  society  must  therefore  be  openly 
based  upon  the  acknowledgment  of  the  existence  and  benefi- 
cent character  of  a  Power  above  the  human. 

The  reader  will  I  hope  realize,  that  when  I  affirm  thus  deci- 
dedly some  law  of  Truth  I  affirm  nothing  but  my  own  individ- 
ual convictions  concerning  that  truth  or  principle,  and  unless  I 
was  prepared  to  give  some  evidence  of  the  soundness  of  my 
convictions  in  order  to  justify  their  existence,  my  affirmations 
would  indicate  dogmatism,  which  I  ought  to  condemn  in  my- 
self as  in  others.  Exercise  your  own  intelligence,  respected 
Reader,  in  regard  to  my  statements.  If  my  positions  are  not 
your  own,  and  you  choose  to  criticise  them,  it  appertains  to 
your  liberty  to  do  so,  if  done  fairly  to  the  end  of  ascertaining 
the  truth;  and  my  first  words  to  you  are,  if  you  have  not  of 

17 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  AND 

vour  own  free  will  exercised  your  own  mind  in  honot  thought 
and  reflection  upon  religions  subjects,  do  so  now!  Take1  little 
or  nothing  for  truth  which  has  not  passed  through  the  alem- 
bic of  your  own  mind.  Examine,  reflect  and  decide  for  your- 

J  «/ 

self  in  these  important  matters.  As  St.  Paul  said:  "Prove  all 
things,  hold  fast  that  which  is  good/' 

Ji'I  appear  egotistic  in  the  use  of  the1  pronoun  "  1  v,  my  ex- 
cuse must  be  that  I  know  of  no  one  who  believes  exactly  as  I 
do  in  religious  matters,  so  that  it  is  just  and  proper  for  me  to 
bear  alone  whatever  odium  or  condemnation  may  attach  to  the 
promulgation  of  my  views.  1  entertain  the  hope,  however,  that 
the  views  I  herein  express  may  some  time  be  accepted  by  oth- 
ers, to  some  extent  at  least.  I  only  propose  modifications  of 
the  popular  faith,  such  modifications  as  I  sincerely  believe 
would,  if  adopted  and  taught,  honor  God  more  than  most 
Christians  now  honor  him,  and  dignify  humanity  to  a  degree 
not  yet  reached  in  the  world. 

For  my  honest  and  plain  utterances  I  am  entitled  to  little 
or  no  credit;  for  circumstances  have  placed  me  above  coward- 
ice in  this  respect.  Many  a  poor  minister,  on  the  other  hand, 
with  a  lean  bank  account,  with  a  family  to  support,  and 
wholly  dependent  upon  the  favor  of  the  public,  has  evolved 
himself  by  honest  reflection  into  beliefs  which  he  dares  not 
teach  his  congregation.  Such  men  are  entitled  to  sympathy 
from  those  who,  now  more  out-spoken,  might  in  similar 
circumstances  fail  equally  in  sincerity  of  utterance.  Yet  all 
those  who  do  fail  in  sincerity  must  receive  punishment  in  their 
own  consciences.  An  honest  man  is  the  noblest  work  of  Aim- 
is 


PREFATORY   NOTES. 

.>>//'.•  i'ur  (iod  never  made  ;i  mail  honest.  >ince  lie-  never  (loos 
lor  us  what  we  can  and  ought  to  do  for  otirselvo. 

Of  course,  tin-  old  observation  may  apply  to  my  little  book 
which  has  born  ju>tly  used  in  respect  to  others.  *•  What  is 
true  is  not  ne\\.  and  what  i>  new  is  not  true1."  Hut  as  all 
knowledge,  all  scientific  truth,  must  be  discovered  and  pass 
through  the  human  mind,  each  and  all  of  us  are  justified  in 
exercising  our  individual  faculties  to  the  utmost  if  so  inclined. 
And  I  have  been,  as  it  were,  impelled  to  the  presentation  of 
my  religious  views. 

I  do  not  present  my  views  as  final.  That  I  would  not  pre- 
tend to  do,  since  our  march  toward  the  knowledge  of  all  truth 
is  continuously  onward.  Experience  and  profound  reflection 
must  lead  mankind  much  farther  before  we  can  arrive  at  finali- 
ties in  Religion  or  Morality. 

I  aspire  to  no  leadership.  I  recommend  to  all  an  honest 
study  of  their  relations  with  a  higher  Power',  and  wish  all  to 
be  guided  by  their  own  convictions  in  these  important  concerns 
of  life.  A  good  conscience  is  made  up  of  sincerity  and  an 
earnest  seeking  for  truth  with  all  the  understanding  one  can 
command.  And  after  reflecting  and  doing  the  best  one  can, 
the  approving  smile  of  God  will  be  felt  in  a  good  conscience, 
even  if  the  conclusions  arrived  at  by  the  intellect  be  more  or 

less  erroneous. 

i 

To  be  religious  as  I  understand  it,  is  to  ascertain  by  expe- 
rience and  careful  study  of  the  phenomena  of  nature  the  char- 
'  acter  of  Q-od,  or  the  Powers  above  humanity;  then  to  study 
ourselves  and  our  relations  to  Him  and  to  each  other.     Then 

19 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  AND 

come  in  our  religious  obligations,  which  consist  of  the  con- 
scientious performance  of  our  duties  in  our  relations  with  (iod 
and  all  duties  in  our  relations  with  each  other.  To  honestly 
perform  all  these-  duties  is  all  that  can  be  expected  of  us  by 
any  Power  above  us,  and  the  sincere  performance  of  all  duty 
will  enable  us  to  be  intelligent  and  good,  which  is  the  highest 
state  of  human  enjoyment.  Let  us  begin  note  the  work  of 
perfecting  ourselves;  for  yesterday  is  gone  from  us  and  can 
only  be  useful  to  us  by  our  memory  of  its  experiences;  to-mor- 
row is  not  ours,  and*  may  never  become  so;  to-day,  this  hour, 
is  all  we  may  call  our  own.  And  the  duty  of  the  hour  is  to 
know  God  and  ourselves,  and  to  resolve  to  perform  our  duties 
in  all  our  relations  with  God  and  man. 

I  suggest  it  would  be  well  for  any  old  man  to  epitomize 
and  leave  to  his  fellows  as  a  little  legacy,  what  he  might  con- 
sider the  most  important  conclusions  and  deductions  of  his 
mind  on  his  relations  to  God  and  his  fellow  men,  summed  up 
through  his  own  experiences  of  life.  If  each  old  man  before 
quitting  this  world  could  leave  a  single  truth  or  guiding  prin- 
ciple not  known  or  appreciated  by  the  world,  which  would  or 
should  be  accepted  by  it,  how  rapidly  would  truths  and  prin- 
ciples be  multiplied;  for  the  rich  mines  of  truths  and  principles 
so  far  from  being  worked  out,  are  hardly  opened.  Animated 
by  this  feeling  I  have  resolved  to  wrrite  down  some  thoughts 
and  convictions  on  the  always  interesting  subjects  of  Religion 
and  Morality,  —  the  laws  of  nature,  the  character  and  will  of 
high  Divine  Powers,  other  and  higher  than  the  power  of  will 
and  freedom  that  man  himself  possesses.  I  propose  to  state 

20 


PREFATORY  NOTES. 

my  conviction:-  ()ii  various  matters,  among  tlicm  the  important 
subjects  of  the  Will  and  Liberty  of  Man.  as  cxcm])lified  in  the 
facts  and  experiences  of  li  fe :  also  mv  views  of  Jmmortalit  v.  or 
of  continued  individual  consciousness  after  death.  If  there  is 
any  value  of  truth  or  newness  in  the  modification  of  prevailing 
opinions  which  I  propose,  and  which  I  have  myself  adopted, 
I  have  faith  to  believe  tliat  if  fairlv  presented  thev  will  be 
received  at  least  by  a  few.  and  sooner  or  later  appreciated  by  a 
sufficient  number  to  keep  alive  any  seeds  of  new  truth  which 
my  writing's  may  contain.  I  am  quite  sincere  in  my  own  belief 
and  expression  of  my  convictions,  and  at  the  outset  I  desire 
in  this  respect  to  have  your  confidence;  I  have  no  personal 
interested  motives  in  writing  as  I  do,  unless  it  be  the  great 
satisfaction  I  should  feel  in  having  my  cherished  views  and 
principles  adopted  by  others,  for  the  reason  that  I  have 
implicit  faith  that  they  are  up  to  this  time  the  best  that  have 
been  presented  to  guide  us.  In  regard  to  Religion,  we  find 
on  glancing  at  the  present  condition  of  countries  the  most  civ- 
ilized and  advanced  in  scientific  research,  that  in  respect  to 
religious  faith  and  creeds,  hitherto  held  by  the  Orthodox 
Christian  to  be  too  sacred  to  justify  an  examination,  a  "  change 
is  slowly  coming  over  the  spirit  of  their  dreams."  The  old 
religious  creeds  and  beliefs  of  past  centuries  are  being  sub- 
mitted to  the  examination  of  common-sense  thinkers,  who  crit- 
icise them  with  a  hardihood,  wounding  perhaps,  to  the  suscep- 
tibilities of  many  Christians,  who  with  fear  and  regret  perceive 
that  "Old  things  are  gradually  passing  away  and  all  things  are 
becoming  new."  This  progress,  I  think,  is  inevitable.  The 

21 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  AND 

indications  of  change  and  dissolution  of  old  ideas  arc  plainly 
visible  in  our  time.  One  modification  of  old  accepted  t  ruth 
leads  to  another.  I  have  placed  on  a  panel  of  a  door  in  I  Jell 
Street  Chapel  these  words,  *•  Many  beliefs  of  to-day  will  become 
the  heathenisms  of  the  future."  The  same  power  of  truth  and 
reason  that  casts  from  the  pedestal  of  our  old  faith  a  God  that 
demand*  and  m/ ////'&*  of  us  to  love,, honor  and  serve  Him  on 
pain  of  punishment,  will  place  a  true  God  in  the  heart  and 
mind  of  the  intelligent  and  good.  From  our  knowledge  of  the 
character  of  the  most  perfect  specimens  of  human  kind,  it  has 
become  for  many  impossible  to  believe  in  the  existence  of 
a  God  with  a  character  such  as  the  Orthodox  Christian 
creeds  ascribe  to  him,  since  those  creeds  represent  Him 
as  inferior  to  our  best  men  and  women,  in  a  moral  point 
of  view.  Poor  human  nature  requires  a  God  that  it 
can  look  up  to,  one  who  possesses  intelligence  and  good- 
ness superior  to  the  best  of  men,  not  inferior  in  character 
to  the  average  man!  We  need  a  God  as  a  model  of  a  good 
character  for  us  to  imitate  in  our  humble  way.  Let  us  conse- 
crate our  church  edifices  and  our  own  minds  and  hearts  to  a 
God  whom  we  recognize  as  above  our  highest  human  standard, 
not  beneath  it;  whom  we  can  love  and  honor  with  our  own  free 
will ;  for  this  will  enable  us  to  consider  the  performance  of  our 
religious  and  moral,  duties  the  greatest  privilege  of  life. 

This  planet  is  a  vast  ball,  and  man  in  growing  intelligence 
and  power  is  fitted  and  permitted  to  be  its  master!  By  what- 
soever or  by  whomsoever  created,  man  exists  a  Power  in  the 
Universe  of  conjoined  mind  and  matter!  Although  subjected 

22 


PREFATORY    NOTKS. 

to  general  law-,  not  of  hi-  own  creation,  yet  all  must  admit 
1  he.-e  la\vs  arf  <•<  >n-t  it  uted  in  wi-dom  and  a  IT  necessary  to  man, 
so  much  so  that  hi-  verv  e\i-t  nice  depends  upon  the  unchange- 
able lie-.-  and  continuation  of  t  hem  !  Within  1  he-e  natural  laws 
man  ha>  the  power  of  freedom  and  will,  and  God  never 
abridge.-  or  interfere-  1>\  wlial  arc  called  "Special  Providences/' 
with  the  natnrall\'  endowed  freedom  of  man  to  create  circum- 
stances. Man  in  liis  constitution  is  tin- conception  of  a  higher 
Power,  and  by  his  endowment  of  reason  and  liberty  has  the 
ability  to  ascertain  his  true  relations  with  his  fellow  man.  as 
also  his  relations  with  a  power  we  may  term  "Divine  Father." 
Thus  man  can  govern  himself,  and  acting  within  the  natural 
laws  he,  by  his  freedom  and  will,  governs  the  world!  In 
regard  to  what  we  call  "Religion,  no  true  God  could  arbitrarily 
demand  of  his  creatures,  homage,  worship,  or  love.  Man  by 
the  power  of  his  liberty  can  voluntarily  and  freely  love  and 
honor  what  his  reason,  experience,  and  emotions  teach  him  is 
worthy  of  his  love  and  honor;  but  he  cannot  be  forced  to 
exercise  these  sentiments  against  his  nature  and  his  sincere 
convictions.  The  truth  is,  the  wise  and  the  good  God  who 
really  exists,  requires  no  man  or  woman  to  love  and  honor 
him,  and  no  system  of  religion  embodying  the  arbitrary 
requirements  of  homage  and  belief,  is  worthy  to  be  presented 
for  acceptance  to  any  intelligent  human  being. 

The  true  principle  of  entire  freedom  to  worship  or  not  to 
worship,  as  we  may  be  impressed  or  inspired,  appertains  of  right 
to  the  God-given  liberty  with  which  humanity  is  endowed,  and 
comports  with  the  true  dignity  of  both  God  and  man !  This 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  AND 

divine  principle  lia.s  not  been  recognized  by  most  Christians; 
''Believe  or  yon  will  be  damned,"'  has  been  the  spirit  of  dog- 
matic Christianity! 

If  a  person  doubts,  or  cannot  perceive  or  conceive,  tin- 
existence  of  a  higher  Power  than  Man,  is  it  sensible  or  just 
to  mete  out  to  him  condemnation  and  punishment  in  this 
world  in  addition  to  the  lessening1  of  his  own  happiness  to 
which  his  blindness  subjects  him?  His  want  of  perception  is 
his  misfortune,  rather  than  his  fault!  If,  seeing  no  visible 
God,  he  doubts  or  does  not  believe  in  the  existence  of  a  being 
that  his  senses  do  not  acquaint  him  with,  if  he  cannot  mentally 
discern  him,  surely  he  is  not  to  be  punished  any  more  than  we 
would  whip  a  horse  for  being  born  blind;  and  yet  to  punish  an 
honest  unbeliever,  Agnostic  or  Atheist,  has  been  considered 
good  sound  Christian  doctrine!  Honest  heretics  have  been 
maimed  and  burned  alive  by  honest  Christians  in  power,  for 
differing  from  them  in  points  of  belief  and  doctrine.  And  in 
violating  their  natural  sentiments,  who  will  say  the  Christians 
of  the  olden  time  were  not  honest  and  faithful  to  their  con- 
sciences, and  to  the  darkened  light  within  them?  We  must 
believe  in  their  honesty  and  fidelity  to  what  they  firmly  believed 
to  be  the  will  of  their  God,  and  it  must  be  true  that  they  tear- 
fully and  reluctantly  led  the  unbelieving  heretics  to  be  burned 
alive  at  the  stake !  What  a  terrible  conflict  must  have  been 
'sustained  between  their  natural  humane  sentiments  and  their 
stern  determination  to  act  in  accordance  with  what  was  believed 
to  be  the  eternal  justice  and  the  Will  of  God,  as  laid  down  in 
the  Bible. 

24 


PKKFATORY  NOTES. 

Christians   reasoned,  thai  >inoe  heretics  and  unbelievers  of 
every   >hade   were   doomed    by   God    to   eternal    torment    after 
death,   tlu-ii1    action   in   anticipating    this  punishment    \vas  co- 
operating   with   God   in   the   furtherance   of  His    Will,  and  as 
they   sincerely  believed.   wa>   in   perfect   harmony   with   God's 
character.      Insincerity  is  vicious  because  it  implies  deceit,  but 
s'mccritv  it. -elf  has  no  special   relation  to  either  truth   or  error. 
Sincerity  is  tin-   honest  expression  of  beliefs   and  convictions, 
which  may  be  either  true  or  erroneous.     Our  forefathers  cut  oil 
the  ears   of  (Quakers   and  hung  witches:   the  Catholics   burnt 
heretics,  but    we  must  suppose  them  to  have  been   full  of  >in- 
ceritv  while  performing  these  dreadful  acts.     Error  of  judg- 
ment, joined  with  a  low  anthropomorphic  estimate  of  the  char- 
acter of   God,  caused    these  crimes.      To   act    in  accordance 
with  honest  convictions  is  not  considered  a  crime,  and  yet  great 
errors  are  the  causes  of  great  crimes!      I  will  say  now  what  I 
propose  to  emphasize  in  future  statements,  vi/.:     that  God's 
smile  of  encouragement  is  not  withheld  in  the  consciences  of 
those  who  sincerely   act   in  accordance  with    their  own  best 
knowledge  and  belief,  whatever  that  belief  maybe.     We  can- 
not rightfully  condemn  those  who  are  sincerely  and  honestly 
true  to  their  convictions,  however  erroneous  they  may  be;  not- 
withstanding   which,    we,    individually    and    collectively,  are 
largely  responsible  for  the  foundations  on  which  we  base  our 
bonvictions.     Sincerity  and  truth  are  the  best  foundation,  and 
we  ought  earnestly  to  study  to  ascertain  what  is   Truth  and 
what    is  Error.     We  are  of  the  opinion  that  our    scientists 
and  philosophers,  in  honestly  searching  for  the  truth,  deserve 

25 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  AND 

to  stand  higher  in  the  estimation  of  their  fellow  men,  than  do 
the  Christian  theologians,  beeanse  the  latter  do  not  search  for 
truth,  they  only  profess  to  search  the  scriptures  of  the  Bible. 
that  "  omnium  gatherum "  of  truth  and  error.  Change,  pro- 
gress, physical  and  mental,  is  a  law  of  Nature,  acting  through 
time  and  experience;  and  the  error  of  all  who  sustain  the  pre- 
vailing religions  of  our  day  is,  that  they  oppose  and  tight 
against  this  divine  law  of  progress  and  change;  their  efforts 
are  retardative  hut  not  annihilating.  .  Christians  believe  with 
more  or  less  of  sincerity  that  in  their  narrow  creeds  is  concreted 
all  the  truth  that  it  is  necessary  for  man  to  know!  It  is  worthy 
to  note  that  Christians  admit  the  divine  principle  of  progress 
and  increase  of  knowledge  through  experience  in  all  things 
outside  of  religious  creeds,  but  in  our  relations  with  God  they 
insist  that  our  knowledge  is, perfect.  Thus  they  endeavor  to 
shut  off  any  further  knowledge  of  what  man  on  this  earth 
should  be  most  interested  to  know,  the  true  character  of  God 
and  our  true  relations  with  Him. 

Christians  admit  in  the  abstract,  that  God  is  wise  and  good, 
and  they   meet  in   fine  churches,  no  doubt  with   the  honest 

intent  to  worship  and  honor  Him;  but  inconsistently  in  fact  by 

• 
their  Bible   teachings,  they  libel  and  vilify  their  Maker,  for 

the  tendency  of  what  they  teach  is  to  prove  that  God  is  not 
wise  and  good.  They  impugn  the  character  and  degrade  the 
God  whom  they  profess  to  worship,  honor  and  love.  Popular 
Christian  idealizations  of  the  character  of  God  are  the  adopted 
conceptions  of  an  ignorant  and  superstitious  age! 

Truth  is  simple,  and  any  scientific  truth  when  once  discov- 

20 


PREFATORY   N<  )TES. 

crcd  remain.-  ;in  imdi-j mted  fixed  fact  forever:  not:  so  what  are 
called  the  Diviiu1  Christian  revelations  of  God,  which  it  is 
averred  were  revealed  by  Ciod  at  the  time  ol'  (Christ,  to  a  lew 
])ei'sons  selected  to  receive  them.  These  so-called  '•  revela- 
tions." arc  to  11-  simply  traditional  hearsays  of  the  early  period 
ol'  Christianity  :  unsupported  in  our  day  by  continued  breaking 
of  divine  law  by  miracles,  which,  i!'  deemed  necessary  in  the 
beginning'  to  establish  i'aith,  should  now  be  deemed  necessarv 
to  keep  that  faith  alive!  These  miracles  never  occurred,  and 
had  thev  occurred,  the  working  of  them  would  have  proved 
nothing  but  simple  Power,  having  no  bearing  on  the  truth  or 
falsity  of  any  system  of  Morality  or  Religion,  which  should 
rise  oi'  sink  by  its  own  intrinsic  merit.  Only  by  constant  itera- 
tion and  reiteration  of  the  dogmas  of  the  Christian  system,  has 
it  ever  been  sustained.  The  indoctrination  of  children,  and 
the  unmanly  fear  of  hell  threatened  to  all  unbelievers,  have 
conspired  to  maintain  its  power. 

All  popular  systems  of  religions  which  now  prevail  on 
the  earth,  were,  like  Christianity,  founded  in  superstition  and 
error;  and  in  the  Christian,  as  in  other  popular  religious  sys- 
tems, some  changes  are  absolutely  necessary  to  fit  it  to  our 
present  conceptions  of  truth. 

Under  the  influence  of  reason  and  reflection,  here  and  there 
a  sensible  man  has  sown  the  seeds  of  doubt  amid  broad  fields 
of  a  heavy  growth  of  weeds  of  superstition  and  error.  The 
honest  Doubter  creates  the  disposition  to  examine  and  inves- 
tigate, and  religious  beliefs  of  various  degrees  of  darkness  are 
being  submitted  to  this  common  sense  examination.  Brought 

27 


Al  *  TO  1  '>  I OG  R  A  PI  1 1 C  AL  AX  I) 

to  the  sunlight  o('  truth  the'  prevailing1  pessimistic  svstems  of 
Religion,  as  systems,  must  die  away;  and  the  question  is, 
with  what  better  system  shall  we  replace  them?  IT  for  instance 
we-  cannot  replace  the  Christian  system  by  something;  better, 

1.  v  v  O 

if  we  cannot  find  a  God  with  a  higher  character  than  the  sec- 
tarians present  to  us,  the  poor  emancipated  unbeliever  must,  I 
think,  submit  to  be  driven  into  the  cold  deserts  of  Agnosticism 
01-  Atheism,  doubting-  or  even  disbelieving  in  the  existence  of 
anv  higher  power  than  humanity,  for  us  to  worship. 

Doubt  and  uncertainty  seem,  up  to  the  present  hour,  to  be 
the  late  of  those  who  with  sorrow  have  forsaken  the  Churches, 
many  of  whom  may  be1  classed  as  honest  Gropers  after  truth. 
They  may  join  what  are  called  Free  Religious  Associations, 
(without  any  religion)  and  seldom  or  never  allude  to  any 
God  or  intelligent  Power  above  the  human,  thus  safely  escap- 

r 

ing  the  criticisms  of  both  Orthodox  and  Atheist,  by  not  describ- 
ing a  God  concerning  whose  existence  and  character  they  can- 
not honestly  pretend  to  know.  The  Free  Religionists  believe 
in  fraternity,  and  the  purest  morality,  and  as  a  class  lead  most 
estimable  lives,  and  the  negations  of  those  retiring  from  the 
churches  and  creeds  of  their  fathers  are  in  my  opinion  well 
put  and  well  sustained.  But  what  can  be  done  to  supplement 
these  negations  by  something  more  positive?  In  matters  apper- 
taining to  religion  it  is  easier  to  detect  error  than  to  replace  it 
by  truth.  Must  reformation  begin  within  the  edifice  of  our 
fathers,  or  outside  of  the  churches  among  doubters,  free  think- 
ers, Free  Religionists,  or  advanced  Unitarians?  It  seems 
to  me  that  those  just  enumerated  and  others,  have  been  for 

2* 


llli 


of  superMitiun  and  error  which  sway  our  old  churches, 
than  in  Iniildintr  up  new  systems  of  religion  free  from  errors. 
f  know  of  no  religion  in  which  the  existence  of  a  God  is  fully 
acknowledged,  which  replaces  at  all  satisfactorily  the  old 
religion-,  which  many  intelligent  men  and  women  wholly,  or  in 
great  part,  condemn.  Our  learned  men  of  science,  our  philos- 
ophers, our  college  professors,  do  little  or  nothing  to  solve  the 
ii'reat  problem  of  life.  Is  it  indifference,  or  because  they  know 

O  J-  /  «/ 

nothing  more  of  oar  true  relations  with  God  than.is  preached 
by  our  clergy?  AVe  do  not  look  to  the  .scientist  for  the  highest 
expression  or  feeling  of  the  religious  sentiment;  as  a  rule  he 
seems  to  prefer  to  leave  all  idealistic  and  invisible  matters  to 
be  dealt  with  within  the  churches.  It  does  not  necessarily 
appertain  to  the  province  of  scientists  to  draw  inferences  and 
make  deductions  from  their  notation  of  facts;  it  seems  to  me 
their  chosen  province  is  to  describe  minutely  and  truthfully,  the 
processes  of  Mature,  as  perceived  by  their  senses,  aided  by 
good  optical  instruments.  They  are  a  modest,  useful,  and 
much  to  be  respected  class  of  our  fellow  men;  all  due  praise 
and  honor  to  them  for  their  perseverance  and  .research !  Sci- 
entists testify  before  the  world,  like  honest  intelligent  witnesses 
before  a  Court  of  Justice.  These  Court  witnesses  testify  as  a 
rule,  only  to  what  they  have  themselves  seen,  giving  no  opinions, 
and  very  properly  leaving  the  judge  and  jury  to  draw  their 
own  inferences  and  make  their  own  decisions.  The  scientists 
give  us  no  God,  they  know  of  nothing  invisible.  Herbert 
Spencer  however,  who  is  considered  to  be,  and  I  think  justly, 

29 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  AND 

one  of  the  most  patient  and  intelligent  scientists  of  our  age,  lias 
discovered  or  believes  in,  what  lie  calls  a  "Persistent  Force." 
This  for  a  thoroughbred  scientist  is  an  unusual  and  important 
admission.  Persistent  Force'  is  a  queer  name  to  substitute  for 
the  common  name  of  God,  but  it  seems  to  indicate  an  approxi- 
mation to  a  powerful  Influence  or  Deity,  I  suppose  the  very 
best  by  way  of  compromise  that  Mr.  Spencer  can  conscien- 
tiously give  us,  and  remain  true  to  his  scientific  convictions. 

The  terms  Power  and  Force  alone,  do  not  indicate  cliarodt-r, 
for  force  and  energy  may  be  exercised  by  a  steam  engine,  or  by 
a  good  or  bad  mental  power.  Some  of  the  forces  which  we  find 
existing  in  the  world,  which  have  been  fairly  persistent,  can 
hardly  be  considered  of  themselves  as  indicating  a  high  mental 
power  of  a  transcendent  character,  for  we  find  on  looking  back 
that  error,  crime,  superstition  and  bad  governments  have  to  a 
certain  extent  been  persistent  forces  ;  also  the  belief  in  very 
bad  Gods  which  still  exists  in  the  minds  of  the  superstitious, 
who  continue  to  make  up  so  large  a  portion  of  the  devotees  of 
our  prevailing  religions. 

Returning  to  the  question,  shall  we  attempt  to  found  a  new 
system  of  religion  outside  of  the  churches,  or  shall  we  depend 
upon  the  slow  modifications  for  the  better,  which  are  now 
taking  place  within  the  old  established  religions?  It  may  be 
urged  by  the  honest  believer  who  adheres  to  the  existing 
churches,  that  if  the  negations  and  denyings  of  the  truth  of  the 
points  of  belief  of  the  Christian  creeds  are  well  put  and  well 
sustained,  still  the  tearing  down  of  the  church  of  our  fathers 
with  all  its  errors,  does  not  necessarily  build  us  a  new  and  a 

30 


PREFATORY  NOTES. 

I icltcr  one.  The  good  Christian  may  say,  ••  Before  von  attempt 
to  bint  from  existence  the-  Christian  system  of  Religion,  which 
surely  is  better  than  nothing,  would  it  not  be  wiser  to  replace 
it  by  .something  !><:tl<-i\  would  it  not  be  more  inodcxt  even?  '' 
I  believe  there  is.  much  of  truth  and  consequent  strength 
in  this  line  of  argument  by  the  honest  existing  upholders  of  the 
Christian  system  of  theology.  If  the  old  house  is  rotten  and 
dilapidated  in  parts,  still  there  are  pieces  of  sound  timber  in  it. 
which  may  be  worked  to  great  advantage  into  a  new  and  liner 

\J  O  O 

edifice.  The  old-time  Christian  may  argue,  "  If  the  windows 
are  small,  and  let  in  but  little  light,  if  the  roof  is  leaky  and  the 
jibes  and  arguments  of  unbelievers,  blind  Agnostics  and  Athe- 
ists, are  being  poured  in  like  rain  to  crack  and  crumble  our 
walls,  still  there  are  some  dry  spots  on  which  to  place  our  nar- 
row beds  of  Faith,  on  which  we  can  repose  our  stiffened  limbs; 
and,"  adds  the  honest  and  stubborn  Creed  believer,  "  this  old 
house  is  the  house  of  my  father  and  forefathers,  and  the  best 
one  ever  yet  built ;  in  it  Christian  believers  have  lived  hun- 
dreds of  years,  and  if  it  is  now  dark,  mildewed,  rotten  and 
leaky,  it  is  better  than  dark  corridors  and  cellars  of  Agnosti- 
cism and  Atheism,  and  it  is  sensible  to  live  in  this  old  house 
until  a  better  one  is  built.  Let  the  doubter,  the  Agnostic,  the 
Atheist,  the  Scientist  and  Philosopher  present  their  plans  for  a 
new  edifice  and  commence  the  building  of  it,  lay  wide  and  long 
their  much  vaunted  foundations  of  solid  Scientific  Truth,  frame 
it  with  what  they  call  their  incontrovertible  good  and  just 
principles,  and  lay  over  all  a  roof  impervious  to  what  they  call 
Error  and  Superstition,  and  we  will  look  it  over !  " 

31 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  AND  PREFATORY  NOTES. 

What  I  now  desire,  above  all  things  else,  is  to  assisl  in 
founding1  and  building  up  a  Religious  Soeiety  which  shall  be 
guided  by  the  highest  principles  of  Truth  and  Right  which  the 
mind  of  our  day  can  conceive. 

I  aspire  by  the  aid  of  those  who  can  sympathize  with,  and 
appreciate  my  views,  to  initiate  a  Church  service  which  shall 
be  modified  in  important  respects  from  the  old  Liturgies. 

Believing  in  the  existence  of  a  Paternal  Power  we  should 
all  strive  to  comprehend  His  character;  and  this  knowledge  of 
God,  joined  to  a  knowledge  of  ourselves,  will  enable  us  to 
understand  our  true  relations  with  God  and  with  each  other. 
Then  will  be  enlisted  our  conscience,  our  sense  of  duty,  our 
dignity  of  character,  and  our  most  noble  emotions,  to  help  us 
perform  all  the  duties  growing  out  of  these  relations  with  our 
Divine  Father  and  with  our  brother  man. 

This  is  true  Religion  and  true  Morality. 

And  while,  as  builder  of  the  Bell  St.  Chapel  and  initiator 
of  the  Religious  Society  which  I  hope  may  in  time  worship 
therein,  I  ask  a  reasonable  sympathy  with,  and  adherence  to 
my  views  from  those  who  may  found  such  Society,  I  should 
violate  my  own  convictions  of  freedom  and  duty  if  I  sought  in 
any  way  to  prevent  the  exercise  of  any  other  person's  reason 
and  individual  judgment  of  what  is  right  and  true. 

I  would  consecrate  a  Temple  to  God,  to  Truth,  and  to  all 
that  dignifies  and  ennobles  Humanity! 


SECTION  FIRST. 


THE  REVELATION  OF  GOD  IN  NATURE  AND  IN  HUMAN 
LIFE:  AND  MAN'S  TRUE  RELATION  TO  GOD. 


NATURE  AND  LIFE:     MIND  AND  MATTER. 
LAWS  AND  PHENOMENA. 

KNOWLEDGE  OF  GOD  AND  OUR   RELATIONS  TO  HIM:   MAN'S 
YEARNING  AND  GROPING  AFTER  GOD. 

MAN'S  NEED  OF  A  REASONABLE  GOD. 

DIVINE  AGENCIES. 

THE  CHARACTER  OF  GOD. 

GOD  REQUIRES  NO  GRATITUDE. 

TO  GOD  WE  OWE  THE  GREAT  GIFT  OF  LIFE. 

WHAT  CAN  MAN  RENDER  TO  HIS  GOD?    OR  GRATITUDE   AND 
OBEDIENCE  TOWARD  GOD. 

GOD  OUR  FATHER. 


THE  REVELATION  OF  GOD  IN  NATURE  AND  IN  HUMAN 

LIFE:   AND  MAN'S  TRUE  RELATION  TO  GOD. 

NATURE  AND  LIFE!     MIND  AND  MATTER. 

Much  time  has  been  spent  by  the  human  mind  in  the 
endeavor  to  conceive  of  the  beginning  of  tilings.  The  human 
intellect  has  been  strained  from  the  earliest  known  history  on 
this  point,  and  a  harmony  of  conclusions  seems  now  to  be 
arrived  at,  viz.:  that  man  is  not  constituted  in  mind,  body  or 
senses  to  comprehend  a  beginning1  or  origin  of  the  least  parti- 
cle of  matter,  or  of  what  we  call  mind;  and  we  may  safely  say 
will  never  be.  To  be  in  accord  with  human  reason  there  must 
always  exist  an  a  priori  to  all  thought-of  beginnings.  It  would 
seem  wiser,  therefore,  to  leave  the  problem  of  Creation,  and 
pass  on  to  the  consideration  of  questions  within  the  scope  of 
human  intelligence. 

We  perceive  that  organizations  exist,  combining  mind  and 
matter,  or  intelligence  and  phenomena. 

What  we  term  spirit,  or  mind,  is  always  invisible  to  the 
human  senses.  No  man  ever  saw  the  mind  of  another  man, 
nor  the  mind  of  any  living  creature.  The  moving  power  and 
character  of  mind  is  known  only  by  manifestations  or  phenom- 
ena. So  of  the  mentality  of  the  Power  above  the  human  mind, 
it  is  hidden  and  invisible  to  the  human  senses :  but  not  so  its 

35 


Till-:   REVELATION  OF  GOD: 

manifestations,  .since  llu1  phenomena  of  Nature  all  indicate  an 
interior  Intelligence,  a  great  Mind  in  all  things. 

We  call  xubxtcatre  that  mate-rial  from  which  all  organi/ed 
existences  are  formed.  Substance  is  full  of  qualities  and  pow- 
ers. We  cannot  conceive  of  the  annihilation  of  a  single  grain 
of  sand,  but  we  can  conceive  of  and  do  constantly  perceive,  the 
annihilation  of  the  forms  and  life  of  all  existences  growing  or 
evolving  out  of  substance  or  earth  ! 

All  in  life  is  rotation,  change,  evolution,  and  progress. 
The  substance  of  earth  is  improved  by  the  chemically  improved 
dust  of  our  bodies;  and  the  influence  of  our  mental  life  may 
have  increased  in  a  perceptible  degree  the  great  collective 
mind  of  Humanity  which  remains. 

Nothing  however  can  be  evolved  from  substance  which 
was  not  previously  involuted,  and  since  the  offspring  of  sub- 
stance is  so  superior  in  form  and  mental  quality  to  undevel- 
oped substance  itself,  we  are  justified  in  looking  upon  it  as  an 
agency  or  instrument  merely,  of  a  higher  Power.  In  the  flow  of 
the  great  sea  of  animal  life  on  this  globe,  the  mind  is  dependent 
upon  substance  for  its  environment  and  expression.  This  inter- 
mingling of  mind  and  matter  is  certainly  a  great  mystery;  per- 
haps next  to  the  crowning  mystery  of  the  primal  origin  of  all 
things. 

But  in  spite  of  the  unfathomable  mysteries  in  which  we  are 
immersed,  we  do  know  so  much  of  the  orderings  of  Nature,  of 
the  wise  guiding  principles,  or  laws  of  growth,  revealed  through 
phenomena,  that  we  may  surely  perceive  the  goodness  and 
power  of  some  great  Mind  above  the  human :  and  we  are  all  on 
the  road  to  the  acquisition  of  more  knowledge,  in  all  our  rela- 

36 


MAN'S  TRIT:  RELATION  TO  GOD. 

lions  with  Xatnre.  with   each    other,  and    in   our   relation    \\'itli 
ilk'  great  Mind  of  all  substance  which  we  call  (iod  ! 

I  have-  placed  on  ihc  panels  of  a  door  in  Bell  St.  Chapel 
these  word>.  '"  Mind  and  mat  ler  are  co-existent  and  co-eternal 
That  is  so  lar  as  human  experience  has  taught  us,  they  exist 
together,  and  are  never  dissociated  !  I  believe  that  the  subtle 
power  we  call  mind  is  always  invisible,  and  can  show  itself 
only  through  the  phenomena  of  matter.  The  recognition  of 
this  principle  of  the  eternal  co-existence  of  mind  and  matter 
I  conceive  to  be  a  primal  truth  of  the  greatest  importance  to 
mankind.  A  clear  perception  of  this  principle  enables  the  man 
of  science,  the  philosopher,  and  every  reflective  mind  to  make 
truthful  deductions  from  Nature  and  Life.  It  permits  the 
religious  man,  and  all  believers  in  the  existence  of  Divine 
Powers,  to  see  as  it  were  the  form  of  the  personality  of  his 
God,  of  his  beneficent  Maker  and  sustainer  in  life;  and  at  the 
same  time  enables  him  to  comprehend  the  character  of  that 
great  Being  whom  every  sincere  Christian  and  every  devotee 
of  every  Religion  seeks  to  worship  with  mind  and  heart  ! 

The  mind  of  God  like  its  little  type  in  man  is  always  invis- 
ible, but  the  phenomena  of  Nature  make  God  visible  in  motion 
and  in  form.  We  find  in  man  faintly  shadowed  the  power  of 
creating  phenomena.  The  immense  but  paternal  high  Power 
above  us  permits  us,  his  feeble  but  cherished  children,  to  sub- 
due and  harness  for  our  use  the  elements  by  which  we  are 
surrounded.  We  mount  in  the  air  by  balloons;  we  course 
the  surface  of  oceans  by  ships;  we  confine  water  in  iron  and 
steel,  and  set  the  fire  to  fight  and  to  conquer  it,  and  permit  its 
escape  in  steam  only  on  condition  that  it  helps  us  in  our  work. 

37 


THE   REVELATION  OF  (JOD: 

Always  embodied  in  matter,  mind  has  all  the  thinking1,  con- 
triving1 and  shaping  to  do  in  this  world  and  in  the  universe. 
Mind  is  in  harmony  with  the  elements  and  is  seen  in  the  earliest 
vegetable  matter  —  the  lichens  on  the  surface  of  rocks  rough- 
ened by  rain  and  ocean  movements.  Mind  is  the  motive  power 
of  all  motion.  ]STo  lever  moves  of  itself,  no  wheel  turns  without 
the  permission  of  mind.  Mind  is  the  power  that  causes  the 
planets  to  revolve  around  the  Sun.  Mind  is  king  over  matter, 
although  the  power  of  mind  must  perpetuate  itself  through 
matter. 

Simple  and  wonderful  are  the  operations  of  Nature,  and  the 
writer  believes  it  is  given  to  man  by  the  study  of  phenomena 
and  their  meanings  to  comprehend  all  that  subserves  his  highest 
well-being  in  this  world  to  know.  In  whatever  way  the  orig- 
inal mind-spark  of  life  may  have  come  into  existence,  we  know 
that  on  this  earth  mind  perpetuates  itself  through  its  copart- 
nership with  matter.  Thus  from  the  substance  of  the  earth, 
aided  by  the  warmth  and  light  of  that  glorious  orb  which  is 
1,400,000  times  larger  than  our  earth,  the  streams  of  all  life  and 
mind  are  perpetually  fed. 

The  human  mind  can  never  perceive  or  conceive  of  the  Infi- 
nite! It  can  never  go  beyond  its  own  limitations.  We  cannot 
conceive  of  the  beginning  of  a  God  of  power,  intelligence  and 
goodness,  but  we  know  such  a  God  exists,  and  sustains  each 
and  all  of  us  while  we  exist.  It  is  of  no  importance  to  have 
the  mystery  solved  as  to  how  time,  space,  matter  and  persistent 
force  came  into  being;  for  Nonentity  has  no  meaning  to  the 
human  mind. 

38 


MAX'S  TIU'E   RELATION   TO  GOD. 


LAWS  AND   PHENOMENA. 

Man  tind>  upon  his  advent  upon  earth  curtain  invariable 
laws  in  o])eration  which  on  examination  he  realize.-  were  nec- 
essary to  his  birth  and  existence.  There  seem  to  be  laws  united 
with  power  relating  to  all  substances:  to  earth,  air.  lire  and 
water.  lie  finds  in  vegetable  nature,  from  the  minutest  lichen 
on  rocks,  gradations  of  size  and  usefulness  and  power  up  to 
the  giant  cedar  trees  of  California.  He  finds  minute  animal- 
culae,  graded  up  to  Hying  insects,  and  then  up  to  humming 
birds,  and  on  to  the  largest  species  of  winged  creatures.  He- 
finds  in  fish  of  stream,  lake  and  the  vast  oceans,  the  same 
minute  beginnings,  and  the  same  gradation  of  size  and  power 
up  to  the  mighty  Avhale. 

He  finds  in  the  mineral  kingdom,  mud,  sand,  rocks,  coal, 
salt,  gems  of  great  beauty  wonderfully  crystallized  and  col- 
ored, and  at  last  he  sees  the  diamond,  the  flashing  beauty  of 
which,  our  Sun  itself  deigns  to  display  to  our  admiring  gaze. 

After  this  procession  of  lower  grades  and  substances  comes 
the  animal  race,  all  graded  and  sphered  from  the  smallest  in 
size  to  the  mastodon.  But  man  observes  that  the  truer  clas- 
sification of  the  animal  race  is  not  by  size  but  by  mental  power. 
Hence  he  ranks  animals  upward  from  those  lowest  in  intelli- 
gence to  Man,  the  highest  and  sovereign  of  all. 

All  these  grades  of  being,  man  perceives  are  under  the  ope- 
ration of  laws.  What  are  laws?  Laws  are  influences  or  sub- 
so 


TIN-:  R.KYI-:LATIOX  or  GOD: 

jectivities  of  mind.  What  are  known  as  the  la\vs  of  nature 
art-  influences  of  a  Mind  higher,  and  moving  in  a  higher  sphere. 
than  that  of  mail.  This  high  Power,  the.  influences  from  which 
we  name  laws,  is  variously  called  by  us  God,  Deity,  etc. 

And  since  man  cannot  perceive  nor  conceive  of  a  first  cause, 
the  human  reason  is  forced  to  fall  back  upon  these  laws  as  the 
agency  of  revelation  of  God's  nature  and  character. 

The  word  phenomena  is  an  all-comprehensive  word. 
Would  you  know  the  character  of  a  manV  Sum  up  the  phe- 
nomena of  words  and  deeds  he  exhibits  throughout  life,  and 
you  find  the  sum  total  is  the  man  himself.  Man  is  organized 
to  fill  one  sphere  in  the  many  grades  of  existence.  He  is  the 
flower  of  all  the  phenomena  manifested  in  this  world.  But 
there  are  other  and  higher  phenomena  in  the  universe;  phe- 
nomena indicating  a  supreme  Mind  and  Character.  Calling 
ourselves  and  everything  in  this  world  finite,  we  find  that  in 
the  universe,  which,  by  way  of  contrast,  we  must  call  Infinite. 
And  as  we  look  off  into  the  heavens,  we  find  the  great  invisi- 
ble Mind  of  God  manifesting  itself  through  phenomena  of 
colossal  proportions.  And  since  our  finite  and  invisible  minds 
are  manifested  to  others  by  our  works,  we  must  believe  that  in 
the  God-mind  of  the  universe  is  combined,  speaking  humanly, 
all  that  is  noble  and  manly  in  man,  united  to  all  that  is  sweet 
and  lovely  in  woman ;  of  which  on  our  earth  the  noblest  man 
and  the  noblest  woman  are  faint  types. 

Hence  although  we  cannot  realize,  even,  the  primal  power, 
we  can,  through  the  manifestations  of  those  laws,  or  agencies 
of  Divine  influence,  discovered  through  the  phenomena  of  this 

40 


world  ;nul  of  tin-  u'lvat  universe-,  comprehend  in  a  manner  the 
power  and  the  character  <>f  the  (iod  which  they  reveal. 

The  laws  of  nature  which  thu-  reveal  (iod  are  as  imper- 
sonal and  invisible  as  is  the  Divine  Mind  by  whose  influence 
they  operate.  And  we  are  justified  in  believing'  in  the  exist- 
ence of  invisible  mental  power  above  the  human  most  of  all, 
because  man  himself  has  the  power  to  plan  in  the  secrecy  of 
his  own  mind,  and  can  exert  influence  over  both  .substance  and 
mind  in  a  similar  manner!  Pie  is  in  a  sense  a  Lilliputian  God! 
He  supplements  natural  laws  by  his  social  enactments,  and  he 
may  be  in  a  slight  degree  a  creative  agency. 

We  are  able  to  personify  a  Causal  Power  because  the  qual- 
ities of  intelligence  and  goodness  are  faintly  but  distinctly 
typified  in  the  personalities  of  human  kind ! 

The  reader  may  say  "  You  believe  then  that  God  is  a  per- 
sonality like  man?" 

I  answer,  if  mind  is  always  associated  with  matter  how 
can  we  imagine  that  the  great  Mind  we  call  God  is  dissociated 
from  substance? 

Possibly  we  may  never  ascertain  the  particular  form  of 
matter  in  which  the  Mind  of  God  especially  inheres ;  and  if  we 
do  not,  there  must  be  a  good  reason  for  this  limitation  of 
knowledge.  But  I  for  one  do  not  despair  of  acquiring  some 
definite  ideas  on  the  Personality  of  God.  Indeed  I  now  enter- 
tain a  conviction  that  if  the  Sun  be  not  the  visible  Personality 
of  the  God  of  our  world  it  is,  in  its  beneficent,  life-giving  and 
sustaining  power  the  best  type  and  manifestation  of  God. 
Reader !  Do  you  doubt  the  existence  of  a  great  and  beneficent 

41 


THE    REVELATION  OF  GOD: 

Power,  which  in  our  language  \ve  have  named  God?  Permit 
me  to  suggest  to  your  intelligent  observation  some  facts  of 
nature  bearing  upon  this  subject;  and  allow  me  to  speak  of 
those  analogies  from  nature  which  have  led  me  to  see  the  Per- 
sonality of  God  represented  by  the  Sun. 

Mind  inheres,  we  say,  in  earth  or  substance;  and  even  in 
the  solid  rock  is  the  embryo  of  mind,  for  by  the  action  of  the 
Sun  and  the  elements,  it  becomes  in  time  disintegrated  and 
drops  into  mud  or  soil,  from  which  arise  all  organized  exist- 
ences. Mind  is  thus  immanent  in  all  matter.  It  is  the  subtle 
essence  of  all  substance  and  of  all  organized  existences. 

We  are  justified,  I  think,  in  believing  that  Divine  Mind 
is  the  same  in  kind  as  the  human  mind,  differing  only  in  degree 
and  power.  The  Divine  Mind  must  be  all  powerful  in  liberty, 
and  executive  power  of  will;  in  the  human  mind  we  have  also 
liberty  and  will  in  a  limited  degree;  these  powers  of  liberty 
and  will  exist  in  degrees  and  in  all  grades,  from  man  down- 
ward to  the  smallest  animalculae ;  and  reasonably  we  may  con- 
jecture they  exist  in  degrees,  in  grades  of  being  from  man 
upward  to  the  highest  power  in  the  Universe  that  we  name 
God,  Deity,  etc. 

The  mental  and  physical  phenomena  of  a  man  from  birth 
to  death  show  his  character.  The  same  principle  exists  in  the 
wide  sphere  of  nature;  in  all  animals  the  phenomena  mani- 
fested throughout  their  whole  lifetime  indicate  the  character  of 
their  mind  or  mentality !  I  do  not  use  the  term  "  Instinct "  in 
alluding  to  the  mentality  of  the  lower  animals.  That  term  has 
no  meaning  other  than  mind.  What  we  call  instinct  is  always 

42 


MAN'S  TRUE   RELATION  TO  GOD. 

mind,  bill  graded  to  harmoni/e  with  the  sphere  of  the  animal. 
The  wonderful  wisdom  and  goodness  of  the  Creator  is  con- 
spicuous in  the  proportion  and  quality  of  the  mental  power 
given  to  every  organi/ed  grade  of  existence  in  this  world. 
Each  is  formed  and  fitted  to  fill  the  sphere  of  activities  and 
duties  in  which  it  moves.  From  man  down  through  every 
grade  of  animal  life  to  the  lowest  in  si/c  and  intelligence  this 
law  holds  good.  This  principle  of  fitness  to  the  intended 
sphere  of  action  is  also  carried  out  in  the  different  races  of 
men.  And  the  whole  Universe  so  iar  as  we  know  it,  is  in  life 
and  nature  a  vast  series  of  gradations  of  powers. 

From  this  I  gather  the  idea  of  an  immanent  God  within 
our  Solar  System  of  worlds.  As  all  organized  existences  are 
graded  and  sphered  in  this  world,  from  the  smallest  and  most 
humble  up  to  man,  so  by  the  principle  of  analogy  we  are  just- 
ified in  believing  in  a  gradation  of  spheres  above  man,  progress- 
ively advancing  step  by  step  to  the  sphere  of  a  God;  then  still 
rising  in  power  and  intelligence  until  the  acme  of  the  human 
conception  of  Power  is  reached. 

In  our  human  mental  reachings  to  find  a  first  cause,  we 
must  stop  somewhere,  and  is  it  not  wisdom  to  stop  just  when 
and  where  the  human  mind  in  our  day  finds  its  limitations? 
Suppose  we  confine  ourselves  to  our  own  Sun  and  Solar  Sys- 
tem, that  is,  to  the  conclusions  and  legitimate  deductions, 
which  reason  and  reflection  permit  us  to  reach  by  the  aid  of 
our  senses.  "We  may  safely  affirm  there  is  one  God,  one  high 
Power  with  whom  we  in  this  world  have  relations :  and  we 
also  know  the  mental  character  of  some  high  Power  is  wise  and 

43 


THE  REVELATION  OF  GOD: 

good,  from  the1  intelligent  principles  operating  in  nature.  YV< 
.should  not  lose  sight  of  this  great  principle  of  grades  of  being, 
and  spheres  of  action,  whicli  for  one  I  believe  to  be  an  uni- 
versal principle:  and  if  true,  the  operation  of  it  will  carry  us 
up  beyond  any  possibility  of  the  human  mind  to  follow,  and 
leave  us  only  humility,  gratitude,  faith  and  hope  in  realizing 
the  powers  of  our  own  sphere!  "We  must  also  never  lose 
sight  of  this  universal  truth  that  Mind  is  always  conjoined 
with  Substance  or  Matter.  At  the  same  time,  I  for  one  admit, 
that  notwithstanding  this  conjunction,  the  subtle  invisible  mind 
in  its  organization  with  matter  is  the  essential  Power  of  the 
Universe.  Mind  united  with  substance  to  form  an  individual 
unity  influences  other  unities  of  mind  and  substance,  in  grades 
below;  and  in  a  degree  the  lower  grades  of  existence  influence 
the  upper  grades;  all  grades  of  being  and  power  are  harmo- 
niously enchained  together,  and  there  can  be  no  broken  or 
missing  links,  since  all  are  subject  to  the  great  law  of  depend- 
ence and  interdependence!  And  not  only  is  it  true  that  all 
grades  of  being  are  thus  linked  together,  but  each  grade  has 
its  own  proportionate  measure  of  freedom  and  responsibility 
of  action,  and  by  reason  of  this  freedom  and  responsibility  the 
activities  of  the  lower  are  aifected  by  the  higher  powers  through 
the  great  law  of  agencies.  This  law  of  agencies  involves 
fidelity  to  trusts;  thus  introducing  into  Natural  condition  the 
Moral  element  and  leading  to  the  active  exercise  of  the  whole 
train  of  virtues. 

Recurring  again  to  the  universal  principle  of  grades  and 
spheres  which  exist,  I  cannot  but  consider  our  own  Solar  Sys- 

44 


MAX'S  TRl'E    RELATION  TO    GOD. 

tcni  limited  in  extent  and  power  as  an  entity,  relatively  t<> 
other  Solar  SyMem:-  of  \vhicli  the  universe  is  filled.  For 
although  the  Solar  Systems  adjoin  each  other  in  perfect  har- 
mony, yet  our  knowledge  of  astronomy,  limited  as  it  is,  rec- 
ogni/es  a  certain  independence  among  them.  I^ach  star  is  a 
Sun  with  its  family  of  planets  moving  around  it  as  human 
children  move  in  love  and  harmony  around  their  mother:  and 
each  planet,  like  a  human  child,  \vas  brought  forth  from  the 
substance  of  the  parent  Sun,  which  sustains  it.  And  so  with 
us  as  grown  children,  cannot  we  Hud  our  God  close  at  hand? 
The  manifestations  of  His  presence  are  in  our  minds  and  hearts 
and  all  about  tis. 

Would  you  have  a  glorious  emblem  of  God?  Behold  our 
Sun!  The  Sun  is  great  and  powerful:  this  power  calls 
for  our  wonder  and  admiration,  but  the  beneficent,  the  all- 
creating,  and  all-sustaining  character  of  the  Sun  calls  for  the 
highest  and  purest  sentiments  of  human  nature.  Is  not  the 
Sun  in  its  power  and  character  the  type  of  the  immediate  and 
nearest  God  of  every  world  comprised  in  our  Solar  System? 

It  is  a  reasonable  belief  that  every  planet  of  our  system, 
each  crowded  Avith  existences,  is  born  of  the  Sun,  which  is 
1,400,000  times  larger  than  our  earth.  What  a  laboratory  of 
mind  does  the  surface  of  this  immense  orb  afford.  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  affirm  my  belief  and  conviction  that  in  the  Sun  we 
find  the  immediate  God  of  our  Solar  System,  every  planet  of 
which  is  kindly  subjected  to  Its  drawing  and  protective  influ- 
ence. 

We  may  fancy  the  Sun  with  its  beneficent  character  and 

45 


TIIK  REVELATION    OF  ( ;<)!): 

creative  and  sustaining  power  either  is  an  agency  acting  under 
a  higher  Power  than  it  sell',  or  an  independent  Power  in  the 
Sociology  of  the  universe,  a  Power  among  millions  of  Suns. 
If  this  hypothesis  of  the  Sociology  of  Powers  is  well  founded, 
this  universe  has  much  more  of  infinity  than  philosophers  up 
to  our  time  have  conceived.  All  the  active  principles  of  nature 
that  we  are  familial1  with,  are  divine!  All  being  conceived 
by  higher  power,  are  we  not  justified  in  believing  by  analogy 
that  these  principles  being  wise  and  good  are  universal? 

What  objection  can  we  bring  to  the  idea  that  our  Plane- 
tary System  has  its  own  immediate  God,  to  create,  to  sustain, 
to  supervise  its  family  of  planets,  with  a  character  unselfish  and 
divine  in  its  beneficence;  and  why  —  since  mind  is  always  res- 
ident in  substance  or  matter,  —  why  should  not  the  Sun,  since  it 
is  the  largest  body  of  matter  of  our  Solar  System,  be  for  our 
System  the  grand  reservoir  of  mind  as  it  is  of  matter?  Why 
is  it  not  the  source  of  all  goodness,  and  of  all  laws  and  princi- 
ples which  exist  in  our  System? 

If  by  some  Power  incomprehensible  to  us,  one  God  should 
be  born  into  existence  enjoying  the  well  being  that  perfection 
insures,  since  Space  and  Time  are  infinite,  why  should  not 
millions  of  the  highest  conceivable  order  of  existences  be 
brought  into  being?  To  my  mind  it  is  easy  to  believe,  that 
every  star  is  a  Sun  and  a  God  in  power!  Each  reigning 
supreme  over  his  Planetary  System !  And  as  there  are  degrees 
of  magnitude  of  Suns,  so  there  are  different  degrees  of  glory 
and  power  existing  in  these  Gods  of  Suns  and  their  Planetary 
Systems.  It  is  easier  and  more  rational  to  believe,  if  this 

46 


MAN'S  TIUT:  KI-:LATI< >x  TO  (,OD. 

hypothesis  lie  1  rue,  l  hnt  each  ( i<>d  is  independent .  rather  than  t<> 
believe  that  millions  are  dependent  upon  one  God.  Since  the 
principle's  of  fraternity,  justice  and  equality  are  among  men 
considered  to  lie  divine.  \ve  are  justified  in  believing1  that  divine 
equality  and  fraternity  govern  in  the  vast  Sociology  of  the 
Gods. 

It  is  impossible  lor  the  human  mind  to  conceive  of  the 
beginning  of  one  God:  our  mental  difficulty  is  not  increased 
by  the  attempt  to  imagine  a  million  Gods.  Time  and  .space 
are  infinite,  and  our  Solar  System  is  large  enough  as  a  sphere 
of  operations  for  one  God  as  symbolized  by  our  Sun.  Hence, 
it  seems  reasonable  to  imagine  that  in  infinite  time  and  space 
there  are  many  beneficent,  wise  and  powerful  Gods,  to  occupy 
them. 

u  There  is  only  one  God,"  says  the  Mahometan,  "  and  His 
name  is  Allah!  "  "  There  is  only  one  God,"  say  the  Roman 
Catholic  and  old-time  Orthodox  Christian,  "  and  He  exists  as  a 
Trinity  of  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost!  "  "  There  is  only  one 
God."  echoes  the  Unitarian.  The  writer  of  these  lines  believes 
there  is  only  one  God  with  whom  man  lias  intimate  relations. 
He  believes  this  God  is  the  immediate  God  of  our  entire  Solar 
System:  the  immanent  centre  of  all  mental  and  physical  power 
contained  in  our  glorious  Sun  and  in  the  varied  life  of  all  the 
planets  which  draw  from  the  Sun  their  source  and  sustenance ! 

Our  God,  of  whom  our  Sun  is  the  symbol,  is  not  only  sus- 
taining but  is  constantly  creating,  for  all  evolution  and  change 
is  a  perpetual  creation.  We  are  like  moments  of  time  con- 
stantly dying  and  constantly  being  born;  like  drops  of  rain 

47 


THK   REVKLATION   OF    (i()D  : 

that  are  horn  of  the  ocean,  ascend,  run  their  course  on  the 
earth  and  descend  again  into  the  ocean,  to  ascend  again  and 
descend  continually. 

This  rotation  in  life  is  a  glorious  divine  law  or  principle, 
the  highest  and  best  the  intelligent  human  mind  can  conceive 
of.  Renewed  mind  in  renewed  forms,  with  new  and  fresh 
experiences,  is  a  divine  principle  of  wisdom  and  love.  The 
existence  of  a  new  baby  with  the  beautiful  drama  of  life  to  be 
evolved  in  its  future,  is  of  more  value  than  the  lives  of  fifty 
old  men  with  worn  out  experiences  of  life;  their  candles  of 
life  are  burnt  out,  while  the  torches  of  life  of  infants  are  just 
lighted  for  the  beautiful  experiences  of  life!  Behold  in  this 
the  divine  law  of  Rotation,  in  Life! 

Let  us  be  voluntarily  grateful  to  that  Life-giving  and  Life- 
sustaining  Power  which  is  revealed  by  Nature  and  by  human 
experiences ! 


48 


MAN'S  TRIT:  RKLATION  TO  <;OD. 


KNOWLEDGE    OF    GOD!    AND    OUR    RELATIONS    TO 

HIM.     MAN'S  YEARNING  AND    GROPING 

AFTER  GOD. 


It  is  now  4.oO  o'clock,  a.  in.,  and  the  glorious  sun  is  just 
appearing  above  the  horizon.  Its  wonderful  radiance  is  stream- 
ing through  the  window  in  front  of  which,  pen  in  hand,  F  place 
myself  with  mingled  feelings  of  awe  and  gratitude  towards  some 
great  Power  which  manifests  its  character  through  all  the  phe- 
nomena of  this  world!  This  Power  is  manifested  on  a  grander 
scale  as  we  look,  on  a  bright  starry  night,  out  from  this  world 
into  the  heavens.  Some  wise  thinker  has  said  'k  The  proper 
study  of  mankind  is  man."  Is  it  not  more  or  at  least  equally 
important  for  man,  by  all  his  embodied  power  and  means,  to 
study  the  character  of  the  great  powers  above  himself;  to 
endeavor  to  comprehend  his  true  relations  with  this  mighty 
God,  or  these  mighty  Gods? 

We  may  safely  affirm  that  all  perceive  and  admit  the  exist- 
ence of  powers  other  and  above  the  human.  If  we  do  not 
know  how,  nor  by  whom,  nor  by  what  process,  time,  space,  and 
substance  were  brought  into  existence,  we  do  know  positively 
that  no  man  ever  created  absolutely  anything  in  this  universe. 
We  are  but  the  feeble  sequences  of  powerful  antecedents.  And 
as  these  powers,  other  and  higher  than  man,  exist,  and  mani- 

49 


A  -  '. 


:;-?>.     :  v>-ry  -iv  -Moth*:-  K    : 

••vel!  who  ~peak  of  God  a-  "Our   Father." 

"Who     :.-V    S  -".-archil;  if  CaL    fi:',d   OUt    G"<i'.'"   a-k-   One.       The 

a  lit  hor  of  th>.-se  padres  bfriifcvt--  thaT  by  s^ai-f-hirj^r  w»;  c-an  tind 
out  a!)  of  God.  of  Hi-  r-haraotf.-;-  and  Hi-?  quaiitie^.  which  i.s 
iu'r'':»:--arv  to  our  w*-]]-b*;;rj^  in  this  world.  We  7/r/y>V  know 
-ornethin^r  of  G"d  ;.":for»:  we  caij  honestly  and  truly  exercise 
the  feelings  of  respect,  love  and  reverence  which  our  Christian 
friends  insist  we  are  in  duty  bound  to  pay  to  God.  I  for  ODC 
would  acknowledge  that  we  do  owe  constant  gratitude  and 
love  TO  the  ^rreat  immediate  Power  above  humanity.  But  we 
must  know  why  these  feelings  should  be  exercised.  No  rea- 
sonable person  act*  without  an  intelligent  motive,  and  no  being 
in  the  universe  is  entitled  to  man's  reverence  and  gratitude 
unless  the  human  reason,  as  it  is  constituted,  can  base  such 
reverence  and  gratitude  upon  benefits  received  from  the  disin- 
terested goodness  of  sueh  being. 

Before  we  talk  of  religion  or  of  devotional  duties  towards 
God,  we  must  first  truly  find  our  God.  We  must  feel  assured 
of  His  Existence  in  some  form  comprehensible  to  us.  This 
has  not  been  considered  an  easy  thing  by  unbelievers,  Atheists, 
and  many  learned  men  and  scientists.  And  though  I  am  bound 
as  with  hooks  of  steel  to  the  belief  and  conviction  of  the  exist- 

so 


cliff  nt'  ;in  A  niiu'lil\  1'owt.T  \\iih  whom  we  have  relation-.  I 
\vi>li  it  In  In'  nndri>t'  H  M!  that  I  am  not  -rrkinu  tn  tinil  tin-  dod 
i»t'  our  friend-  tlu-  <  Mi  lodox  (  'hri>tiau>.  nor  any  of  thr  many 
(KM!-  whose  trait-  of  rha rafter  iiavf  IHTII  ( If-rrihf  d  l>v  tv  lii:"i<  in- 
sects of  |>a>i  age.-.  And  I  >a\  tin-  \\iiilr  fcriinu'  no  diininn- 
t'mn  off>trfn)  for  any  da»  of  hoiu-st  lH-lifVor>.  My  parent-, 
my  own  mother.  \va>  a  >iiiffiv  bflifVfi-  in  Orthodox  Chri-ti- 
anitv.  and  iirxt  to  mv  dod  1  t'ffl  justitird  in  ioxin--  and  wor- 
shipping my  mother:  a>  I  think  all  do.  I  am  not  >ffkinii\ 
howfVfr.  to  pnno  the  oxistfiu-e  of  any  doil  of  the  nnon- 
liu'litf iifd  religions  seets  of  any  previous  time.  I  am  seeking 
to  prove  the  c'xisteiu-e.  and  demonstrate  the  goodness,  of  the 
great  Mind  and  Heart  of  the  universe. 

As  an  infant  eliild  awakening  in  a  dark  night,  full  of  attee- 
tionate  instincts  extends  its  little  arms  and  gropes  to  find  its 
mother,  who  is  its  all  in  all,  so  through  the  centuries  has  the 
human  race  groped  to  find  its  dod:  conscious  that  on  some 
great  being  wo  each  and  all  depend  for  life,  and  for  all  that 
makes  life's  value.  All  religions  are  born  of  this  yearning  after 
God,  this  desire  to  find  the  source  of  lite,  and  of  all  its  happy 
experiences:  and  to  bring  that  source  nearer  to  human  con- 
sciousness. But  since  the  human  race  has  been  indeed  like  an 
infant  groping  in  the  darkness  of  ignorance  and  superstition, 
not  truly  seeing  its  divine  parent,  it  has  imagined  in  a  night- 
mare of  terror  many  horrible  and  false  ideals  of  God. 


51 


THE  REVELATION  OF   GOD: 


MAN'S  NEED  OF  A    REASONABLE  GOD. 


Man  if  he  requires  any  at  all  wants  a  reasonable  God.  He 
wants  one  who  comprehends  his  own  true  relations  with  hu- 
manity; one  who  if  he  generously  gives  mankind  life,  does 
not  attach  to  existence  onerous  conditions,  hard  or  impossible 
to  fulfil.  Man  wants  a  God  who  will  reveal  himself  in  such 
manner  as  to  compel  reasonable  and  intelligent  homage.  Now 
our  Orthodox  Christian  brethren,  those  who  compose  the  great 
mass  of  our  churches,  are  most  of  them  very  pleasant  to  meet, 
most  of  them  very  sensible  in  worldly  matters,  and  generally 
good  sons,  good  husbands,  and  good,  loving  fathers.  But 
strangely  enough  they  seem  to  be  very  poor  judges  of  man's 
requirements  as  to  God  and  his  character.  They  do  not  seem 
able  to  picture  to  us  a  truly  paternal  and  all-sustaining  Power! 
Yet  they  insist  .upon  it  that  no  one  has  a  right  to  idealize  his 
God  for  himself.  All  must  accept  the  Bible  description, 
whether  or  not  it  commends  itself  to  their  reason.  For  instance, 
when  they  say  in  one  breath  "  There  is  but  one  God,"  and  in 
the  next  that  "  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Holy  Ghost  are  each 
equal  to  God,"  a  humble  doubter  asks,  "  How  can  this  be,  one 
yet  three?  "  They  answer,  "  We  want  no  doubting,  no  question- 
ing; there  are  three  in  one,  and  one  in  three.  Believe,  or  you 
will  be  damned  to  everlasting  punishment  with  the  devil  and 

52 


MAX'S   TRl'K    RELATION    TO    (,OD. 

hi>  angels,  where  the  worm  dieth  not  and  the  tire  is  not 
quenched.  AVe  dare  not  now  attempt  as  formerly,  to  stamp 
out  your  questioning;  doubt  with  the  sword  and  faggot :  but 
we  denounce  all  unbelief  a>  sin.  and  threaten  you  with  horrible 
torments  after  this  life  i>  ended,  if  you  do  not  accept  our 
doctrines."  The  Orthodox  Christian,  if  consistent  with  his 
professed  creed,  preaches  that  man  is  by  nature  "utterly  de- 
praved, and  prone  to  evil  as  the  .-parks  fly  upward."  * 
The  writer  of  these-  lines  was  born  in  1S(M>.  and  in  those 
days  these  Orthodox  doctrines  were  taught  with  vigor  and 
sincerity.  The  stream  of  Christian  faith  had  been  handed 
down  in  purity  and  power  from  our  Pilgrim  Fathers  and 
throngli  them  from  Luther  and  Calvin.  The  father  and  mother 
of  the  writer  were  among  the  first  to  join  the  Beneficent 
Congregational  Church  of  Providence,  on  Broad  Street,  called 
"  The  Round  Top."  They  joined  in  1793.  My  father  was  the 
fifth  admitted  among  the  men,  and  my  mother  the  third  among 
the  women,  who  formed  the  original  society  under  James 
Wilson,  or  "  Parson  Wilson  "  as  he  was  called.  And  when  my 
parents  died,  each  eighty-two  years  old,  they  were  the  oldest 
members  of  that  church.  The  old  family  pew  was  sold  in 
1883,  having  been  ninety  years  in  the  family.  In  early  child- 
hood, I  was  sent  into  the  Sunday-school,  and  afterwards  into 
the  family  pew,  to  have  my  tender  mind  ingrained  with  the 
dreadful  pessimistic  tenets  of  Orthodox  Christianity;  and  to 
this  day  I  have  not  fully  recovered  from  the  terrible  effect  of 
that  doctrinal  instruction !  I  hope  the  reader  will  excuse  my 
apparent  egotism  in  thus  alluding  to  myself  and  my  family. 

53 


Till-:    RKVKL. \TION   OF    (JOI)  : 

I  do  so  because  my  case  illustrates  that  of  thousands  of  others 
who  were  subjected  lo  the  same  religious  training'  in  their 
youth.  Tilings  have;  changed  in  this  particular  somewhat, 
within  eighty  years.  But  still  the  same  old  plant  of  religious 
dogmatism  is  cultivated,  the  same  unreasonable,  revengeful 
and  unfatherly  God  is  held  up  as  perfect,  to  he  "'  worshipped 
with  fear  and  trembling!  "  The  same  faith  and  belief  in  blood 
atonement  as  more  saving  than  good  works  is  inculcated,  the 
same  Heaven  and  Hell  are  held  up  as  reward  and  punishment, 
awaiting  those  who  do,  or  who  do  not  accept  the  Church  doc- 
trines. Still  the  sheep  and  the  goats  are  defined,  not  as  the 
doers  of  good  and  the  doers  of  evil,  but  as  those  who  believe  or 
refuse  to  believe  some  special  tenet  of  the  Orthodox  Christian 
faith.  It  is  indeed  visible  to  all,  that  the  bleak  winter  of  old 
Orthodoxy  is  gradually  softening  and  expanding  into  the 
Spring-like  charity  of  more  liberal  views.  But  there  are  still 
many  chilling  winds  to  warn  us  that  the  better  time  is  not  yet 
come.  The  Episcopalians  have  for  a  long  time  modified  their 
doctrines,  especially  so  far  as  application  to  moral  and  well-to 
do  outsiders  is  concerned.  The  Church  whispers  to  such  "Come 
among  us  and  you  will  seldom  hear  us  allude  to  hell,  or  total 
depravity.  We  have  softened  these  doctrines,  and  now  teach 
God's  love  more  than  His  wrath."  And  many  of  the  Orthodox 
Church  people  really  believe  that  it  is  possible  for  an  honest 
man  full  of  good  works  to  be  saved,  even  if  he  has  not  joined 
the  Church  or  subscribed  to  its  doctrines.  Although  they  feel 
more  comfortable  about  such  a  man  if  he  has  been  a  regular 
attendant  upon  some  Orthodox  church  than  if  he  has  been 

64 


MAN'S   TIU'K    RKLATION    TO    (JOI). 

openlv  liberal  in  hi-  views.  The  ('nilarians  were  come-onters 
of  the  old  Oil  liodox  ( .'hurch ;  hut  some  have  wandered  farther 
from  l  lie  old  fold  than  ot  her-  ;  and  the  conservative  among  tin- 
sect,  those  \\  ho  believe  in  the  "  Kingship  of  -Jesus  "  are  uneasy 
as  to  where-  >onn-  who  hear  their  name  are  drifting'.  And  tin- 
attempt  of  -onie  Unitarians  to  make  their  denominational  name 
embrace  all  who  love  truth  and  righteousness  whether  they 
wish  to  call  themselves  Christian  or  not,  is  in  my  judgment  a 
mistake.  I  believe  the  name  Unitarian  is  limited  to  the  Chris- 
tian ibid.  But  I  believe  the  great  need  of  man  is  for  a 
reasonable  God  higher  than  all  names  or  religions,  and  nearer 

to  our  consciousness  than  any  system  of  belief  inside  or  out- 

» 
side  of  Christianity. 

The  old  Christian  idea  of  God  was  that  of  a  despot  far  below 
the  character  of  many  Christians  who  worshipped  him.  The 
God  of  many  Christians  of  this  day  is  worse  than  the  ideal 
devil;  and  the  doctrines  of  " eternal  punishment,'1  "original 
sin  "  and  the  like,  are  parts  of  a  system  of  belief  born  and 
fashioned  in  the  dark  and  cruel  ages  of  human  experience. 
Man  now  yearns  to  know  a  God  who  is  the  God  of  all  per- 
fection, of  all  knowledge  and  love.  He  yearns  to  know  the 
God  of  .Nature,  whose  beneficent  gifts  are  all  about  us.  He 
yearns  to  know  the  God  who  is  evolved  into  human  conscious- 
ness by  and  through  the  purity  of  heart  and  intelligence,  by 
the  virtues  and  winning  excellencies  of  the  best  and  noblest  of 
mankind,  as  they  typify  and  indicate  the  Divine  Being  in 
whom  is  sublimated  and  concreted  all  purity,  intelligence,  vir- 
tue and  excellence.  For  are  we  not  God's  children,  and  must 

55 


THE  REVELATION7  OF  (iOD  : 

we  not   find  the  conception  of  the  peri'eel    Father  in   the   best 
qualities  of  the  offspring? 

And  how  much  we  all  need  a  conviction  that  this  good 
Power  above  ourselves  comprehends  us,  knows  our  thoughts 
and  feeling's,  our  strength  and  weakness.  Tf  we  are  accused 
of  a  crime  we  have  not  committed,  we  can  then  say  within  our- 
selves ''  God  knows  that  I  am  innocent."  "What  a  consolation 
in  all  earthly  trials  to  believe  in  and  know  this  first,  best  and 
last  friend,  our  Father  and  our  God!  How  soothing  to  believe 
there  is  this  friend  always  with  us  in  our  inner  consciousness, 
our  counsellor  and  our  guide!  When  we  act  in  accordance 
with  our  honest  convictions  of  duty,  even  if  our  knowledge  is 
limited  and  we  make  mistakes,  we  experience  in  our  minds  His 
smile  of  approval.  A  sincere  and  honest  man  true  to  his  own 
intelligence  and  conscience,  be  he  white  or  black,  a  king  or  his 
poorest  subject,  can  stand  before  His  Maker  with  dignity,  face 
to  face,  eye  to  eye,  and  say  "  Am  I  not  Thy  child,  am  I  not  of 
Thy  divine  conception?  Sincerely  keeping  my  heart  and 
conscience  void  of  offense  may  I  not,  humbly,  with  a  heart 
overflowing  with  gratitude,  call  Thee  '  Father!  ' 


MAX'S  TRl'I-:   RELATION   TO  (,OI>. 


DIVINE  AGENCIES. 


When  we  commence  life  how  weak  in  mind  and  body  \vi- 
are.  As  we  mount  the  stage  to  take  an  active  part  in  the 
beautiful  and  interesting'  drama  of  life  to  which  we  are  each 
and  all  invited,  our  divine  Father  perceives  and  kindly  pro- 
vides with  a  generous  hand  for  all  our  wants.  First  of  all  the 
sacred  and  divine  influences  of  human  love  lead  through  paths 
of  roses  to  unite  man  and  woman  in  holy  matrimony.  Then 
comes  a  birth,  a  little  weakling,  and  who  but  our  Divine 
Father  provides  for  this  poor  little  innocent  helpless  bud  of 
hope  and  promise?  He  first  provides  parents  who  are  only  the 
happy  agents  to  perform  His  will.  The  mother,  the  most 
honored  of  these  agents,  is  constituted  with  a  strength  of  love 
for,  and  devotion  to  her  child  which  that  child  needs  and  must 
have  to  insure  its  well-being.  And  is  it  the  mother  that  loves? 
Yes,  but  only  as  the  happy  and  honored  agent  of  God;  for  let 
us  never  forget  that  a  Divine  Power  is  behind  all. 

On  a  panel  of  a  door  in  Bell  Street  Chapel  I  have  caused 
to  be  inscribed  this  sentence:  "  The  infant  smiles  not  upon  the 
mother,  but  God  smiles  through  the  infant."  A  Divine  Power 
has  supplied  to  every  human  creature  a  mother!  This  is  the 
unique  and  priceless  blessing  to  every  individual  of  our  race. 
He  must  be  mentally  blind,  and  therefore  entitled  not  to  our 
condemnation  but  to  our  pity,  who  fails  to  perceive  in  the 

57 


THE   REVELATION   OF  (i()D: 

operations  of  nature,  in  these;  wonderful  human  relations  and 
in  his  own  intelligence  and  conscience,  revelations  of  a  think- 
ing and  beneficent  Power  above. 

God  acts  through  agencies.  Loving  parents  are  the  imme- 
diate agents  of  God,  who  constituted  them  to  love  us;  so  in 
fact  it  is  God's  love  that  shines  through  the  mind  and  hearts 
of  our  parents.  God  in  the  nobility  of  His  great  mind  and 
heart,  in  His  concreted  disinterestedness,  assigns  and  makes 
over  to  parents  all  the  credit  and  honor,  all  the  exquisite 
pleasures  of  affection  and  love  they  feel  for  their  children, 
and  all  that  children  feel  for  them;  for  God  is  the  conceiver 
of  and  author  of  all  natural  affections  of  all  organized  exist- 
ences. Especially  is  the  mother  the  honored  agent  of  God  in 
the  unquenchable  exercise  of  her  affection  and  care  for  her 
children.  More  highly  than  the  father,  is  the  mother  honored 
of  God;  for  the  mother  represents  God  in  the  purest  love 
known  to  exist  on  earth.  Let  no  man  take  the  false  position 
that  woman  is  inferior  to  himself,  for  what  God  honors  most  is 
surely  the  highest  and  most  honorable  in  this  world !  So  next  to 
God,  let  every  son  of  Man  love  and  reverence  his  mother.  God 
for  himself  requires  neither  love  nor  gratitude,  but  his  claim  is 
assigned  to  our  mothers  and  to  all  others  in  this  world  to 
whom  gratitude,  love  and  honor  are  due  from  us.  Such  is  the 
incarnate  disinterestedness  of  God  in  regard  to  his  Own  per- 
sonality. He  expects  nothing!  He  asks  for  nothing!  He  de- 
mands nothing !  But  he  does  require  of  us  obedience  to  the 
laws  of  nature.  And  this  He  requires  because  obedience  pro- 
motes the  individual  and  collective  well-being  and  happiness  of 
humanity. 

58 


MAX'S   TR(  ']•:    KKLATION    TO    <;<  )I). 

Man'-  o\vn  consciousness  is  to  himself  his  primal  starting- 
point;  the  infant  >oon  compi'ehends  its  relations  to  its  parents, 
especially  to  its  mother!  In  after  time,  even  long  before  he 
approaches  manhood,  the  child  may  be  instructed  to  perceive 
beneficent  agencies  behind  his  mother,  in  fact  all  around  him. 
Through  a  series  of  kind  and  disinterested  agencies  all  visible 
back  of  his  mother,  he  may  attain  to  the  idea  of  a  Power 
invisible,  higher  than  any  visible  agency,  whom  we  call  God. 
Varying  ideas  of  the  mode  of  existence  and  character  of  this 
great  Being  prevail  among  mankind:  ideas  dependent  in  a 
great  measure  upon  our  early  education.  There  appears  to  be 
a  trait  in  the  character  of  this  highest  Power  which  is  faintly 
typified  in  the  most  esteemed  of  the  human  race;  and  that  is 
disinterestedness,  or  doing  good  because  it  subserves  the  well- 
being  of  others,  not  because  it  brings  back  material  profit  to 
the  charitable  party.  For  example,  a  man  or  woman  with  full 
liberty  of  mind  to  do  otherwise,  may  give  of  his  means,  he 
may  aid  others  by  his  time  and  labor,  not  asking,  wishing,  or 
expecting  any  return.  This  may  be,  and  is,  often  done  secretly, 
as  for  instance,  subscribing  to  charities  under  the  signature  of 
•"  A  friend."  This  is  disinterested  kindness,  and  properly  con- 
sidered to  be  a  noble  virtue!  Now  it  is  plainly  visible  to  our 
minds  that  this  noble  virtue  of  disinterestedness  is  concreted  in 
the  character  of  some  high  invisible  Power  we  call  God.  And 
this  virtue  of  the  great  Mind  and  Heart  of  the  beneficent 
Power  is  manifested  not  only  in  man,  his  especial  object  of 
love,  but  is  shown  throughout  all  lower  organisms. 


59 


rnn-:  REVELATION  or  <;oi>: 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  GOD. 

The  character  of  God,  J  firmly  believe,  is  shadowed  forth 
in  the  character  of  a  good  and  intelligent  man.  And  surely 
our  imagination  can  picture  approximately,  at  least,  even  in 
our  present  undeveloped  state,  a  perfect  man.  A  perfect  man 
might  be  considered  a  finite  interpretation  of  the  infinite  God 
we  believe  in.  The  possibilities  of  the  finite,  in  growth  toward 
perfection,  are  not  yet  fully  evolved.  Beautiful  and  good  as 
woman  is,  more  perfect  in  character  she  is  destined  to  appear. 
Wonderful  as  our  greatest  men  and  our  best  now  are,  our 
poets,  our  philosophers,  our  artists,  the  future  will  reveal  their 
superiors.  And  as  our  human  race  advances  in  knowledge,  in 
goodness,  in  the  exercise  of  justice,  so  will  our  knowledge  of 
God  and  appreciation  of  His  character  be  developed  in  the 
same  proportion. 

It  is  safe  to  conclude,  as  I  have  said  before,  that  what  is 
virtuous  in  the  character  of  a  human  being  is  concreted  in  a 
higher  Power,  since  there  must  be  a  source  to  every  stream! 

I  believe  therefore  in  the  existence  of  a  high  Power  within 
the  vastness  of  space  in  whom  is  combined  the  highest  intelli- 
gence and  the  highest  sentiments  of  the  heart;  such  love  and 


oo 


MAX'S    TRUI-:    RELATION    TO  GOD. 

ailed  inn  as  our  paiviits  feel  for  their  children!  I  believe  that 
in  the  mind  of  lhi>  liiu'h  Power  originates  all  love,  all  disinter- 
estedness, all  jnMire.  I  believe  lie  is  the  Author  of  all  our 
precious  family  relation^  in  life,  and  the  Author  also  of  fra- 
ternity in  it>  widest  seii.-e,  as  between  individuals,  families, 
communities,  state>  and  nations.  I  believe  that  lie  expresses 
Himself  in  all  the  harmonies  and  beauties  of  nature  which 
are  so  wonderfully  adapted  by  His  fatherly  care  to  man's  needs 
and  delight. 

The  will  and  character  of  God  are  shown  in  relation  to 
man  by  our  constitutional  powers  and  qualities.  By  our  being 
placed  in  helpful  relations  with  other  created  beings,  and  with 
nature  in  general.  And  above  all,  by  the  harmonious  differ- 
entiation of  the  sexes.  The  will  and  character  of  God  are 
shown  by  the  affections  of  our  hearts,  which  link  us  to  each 
other;  and  in  the  mental  powers  which  incite  us  to  activity  in 
all  the  various  pursuits  of  life.  Let  your  imagination  assemble 
in  one  individual  man  or  woman  all  the  finest  mental  qualities, 
all  the  virtues,  all  the  purest  affections,  and  all  the  best-trained 
reason,  and  we  have  the  lowest  point  of  departure  upward  in 
imagining  the  wisdom  and  goodness  and  love  of  God!  Is  it 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  anything  could  come  from  man's 
virtue  and  wisdom  which  was  not  before  in  the  mind  and  heart 
of  God,  our  Divine  Father? 

What  then  is  the  character  of  God? 

He  is  what  is  noble  and  manly  in  man.  He  is  what  is  pure 
and  feminine  in  woman.  He  is  paternal  to  ourselves  and  to  all 
-creatures.  He  is  more  tender  and  more  loving  than  a  mother. 

61 


Till-;  REVELATION  OF  GOD: 

The  one  God  with  whom  humanity  has  relations  i>  the  One 
who  sustains  all  nature,  comprising'  man  and  all  creatures 
below  him.  In  this  world  is  the  God  of  this  world  to  he  found. 
And  all  scientific  knowledge  rightly  understood  serves  to 
deepen  our  conviction  of  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  that 
Power  which  creates  and  sustains  life  upon  our  planet. 

Our  human  minds  must  judge  of  all  things  by  reason  and 
reflection.  And  we  must  therefore  conceive  the  perfect  char- 
acter of  God  through  our  own  minds,  aided  by  the  information 
obtained  by  our  senses  of  the  powers  of  Nature.  If  we  are 
capable  of  judging  of  infinitude  at  all,  it  must  be  as  human 
and  finite  beings  with  human  and  finite  powers.  And  a  God 
whom  we  cannot  so  conceive  and  comprehend  has  no  meaning 
at  all  for  us.  The  operations  of  natural  laws  are  most  wonder- 
ful to  the  most  thoughtful  minds;  and  equally  the  goodness  of 
God  is  most  apparent  to  him  who  knows  most  of  goodness. 
For  us  to  feel  a  deep  sense  of  the  noble  character  of  God  we 
must  reach  out  towards  the  true  and  the  beautiful  in  all  things. 
And  then  our  idealized  conception  of  God  will  give  us  a  type 
to  contemplate  and  to  imitate  humbly  in  our  own  characters. 
We  sing  "  Nearer  my  God  to  Thee." 

What  is  it  to  live  nearer  to  God?  To  know  Him  best  we 
must  consider  ourselves  as  children  before  a  loving  parent. 
And  as  children  with  undeveloped  minds  yet  love  and  confide 
in,  and  seek  to  imitate  their  parents,  so  let  us  endeavor  to 
know  by  spiritual  discernment  the  real  character  of  God. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  nature  and  constitution  of  things  to 
prevent  our  living  nearer  to  God  than  we  now  do.  How 

62 


MAX'S   TRUE  RELATION  TO  GOD. 


Spirit  of  intelligence  and  goodness  in  the  world  of  nature  and 
<>f  human  life!  To  >how  life  child  that  thN  Spirit  of  intelli- 
gence aiid  goodnes.-  is  in  all  and  through  all  he  sees  and 
knows!  And  that  it-  presence  is  specially  manifested  in  and 
through  his  loving  parents  and  friends!  And  how  easy  then 
to  teach  children  that  as  intelligence  and  goodness  govern 
God  Himself  in  His  relations  to  mankind,  so  on  earth  should 
we  in  our  relation.-  with  each  other  be  governed  by  the  same 
great  principles  of  truth  and  of  kindness! 

If  all  men  sought  a  knowledge  of  God  through  these 
natural  revelations  of  nature  and  life,  it  is  incredible  that  any 
sane  person  .should  fail  to  find  Him.  But  down  through  the 
ages  up  to  the  present  period  of  time  the  prevailing  ideas  of 
the  character  of  God  have  been  more  erroneous  than  any 
sensible  person  should  entertain.  Men  have  been  called  upon 
to  make  foolish  prayers,  like  ignorant  dissatisfied  beggars,  to 
a  God  whom  they  met  to  systematically  misrepresent  and 
vilify,  as  is  even  now  done  in  many  Christian  churches!  God 
has  been  represented  by  many  popular  religions  as  less  intelli- 
gent, less  good  and  less  moral  than  the  average  man;  and  as 
such,  demanding  of  us  homage  and  love  like  a  despot.  No 
intelligent  man  or  woman  who  truly  respects  himself  or  herself 
can  longer  believe  in  this  false  representation  of  God. 

Sunday  is  an  excellent  institution,  may  it  always  exist! 
and  may  churches  always  exist.  But  may  we  learn  to  conse- 
crate to  the  true  God  the  temples  of  the  future.  May  we  have 
finer  temples  than  now  exist,  and  may  the  walls  and  ceilings 

63 


THE   REVELATION  OF  (;OI): 

of  such  be  inscribed  with  the  words  of  eternal  truths,  and  with 
emblematic  pictures,  all  doing'  justice  to  the  sublime  character- 
istics of  our  Heavenly  Father!  And  may  all,  young'  and  old. 
with  inspiring  music,  with  grateful  hearts  and  humble  acknowl- 
edgments to  God,  meet  therein  in  a  truer  worship  than  any 
yet  known  to  man ! 

G-od   does  not    require   tldx   worship;    it  sliovld  lie  man* 
free  offering  to  God. 


64 


MAX'S  TlUT:   RELATION   TO  (.OD. 


GOD   REQUIRES   NO  GRATITUDE. 


God  has  no  need  of  the  praise,  homage,  love  or  gratitude 
of  man,  but  man  has  great:  need  of  exercising  all  these  senti- 
ments towards  God.  With  an  intelligent  and  just  man  the 
cherishing  and  the  expression  of  these  sentiments  is  a  neces- 
sity; a  demand  of  conscience;  and  the  exquisite  satisfaction 
he  derives  from  them  constitutes  his  highest  privilege  of 
experience.  And  it  is  reasonable  to  conclude  that  since  the 
highest  happiness  and  well-being  of  man  and  of  all  created 
beings  is  the  end  and  aim  of  the  activities  of  the  high  Power 
above  man,  so  the  free  expression  of  gratitude  from  man 
toward  this  high  Power  should  give  satisfaction  to  the  great 
mind  and  heart  of  God  Himself.  He  could  not  feel  such  satis- 
faction if  He  required  of  us  any  exercise  of  worship;  for  this 
requirement  would  be  derogatory  both  to  His  dignity  and  to 
ours. 

]STo  man  that  respects  himself  would  beg  to  be  praised  and 
honored,  however  praiseworthy  and  honorable  he  might  be. 
Conscious  of  his  own  integrity  he  would  let  his  own  character 
speak  for  itself  in  his  acts.  If  he  were  not  appreciated,  he 
would  exercise  the  virtue  of  modesty,  and  patiently  wait  until 
the  distinction  and  honor  due  him  would  be  voluntarily  paid; 
his  own  dignity  and  self  respect  would  demand  this  of  himself. 

We  may  all  be  sure  that  the  character  of  God   will  not 

65 


TIM-:   REVELATION  OF  GOD: 

sutler  by  a  comparison  with  that;  of  any  human  being,  and  the 
so-called  religious  world  has  been  mistake1!)  in  this  important 
principle.  All  the  principal  Christian  sects  have  taught  and 
are  still  teaching-  that  to  be  ungrateful  towards  our  fellows  for 
favors  received,  especially  from  those  who  have  been  disinter- 
ested in  bestowing'  them,  is  justly  considered  among  men  to  be 
a  species  of  crime,  although  our  community  laws  do  not  recog- 
nize ingratitude  to  be  a  punishable  offence  by  fines  or  imprison- 
ment. 'No  disinterested  benefactor  can  ivith  any  propriety 
make  out  an  itemized  bill  and  demand  an  equivalent  from  the 
parties  benefited.  All  return  must  be  voluntary  on  the  part 
of  recipients;  but  there  exists  in  the  human  mind  a  sense  of 
justice  to  itself,  a  feeling  that  there  should  be  some  recognition 
of  favors  bestowed.  If  ingratitude  is  a  crime,  the  feeling  and 
expression  of  gratitude  is  a  simple  duty;  it  is  a  feeling  that 
all  should  cherish.  The  poor  beggar  has  no  money,  but  he 
can  give  gratitude.  Grateful  feelings  should  be  as  common 
as  favors  received,  but  a  high  minded  good  man  will  not  with- 
hold favors  and  charity  because  of  the  lack  of  thanks  or 
gratitude  from  recipients. 

Gratitude  like  other  good  sentiments  of  our  minds  should 
be  cultivated.  A  study  of  our  relations  to  each  other  teaches 
us  that  parents,  children,  brothers  and  sisters,  husbands  and 
wives  have  mutual  natural  claims  on  each  other  to  be  unselfish. 
This  inspires  gratitude  and  a  mutual  disposition  to  give 
equivalents  or  make  returns  where  it  is  possible. 

In  the  laws  of  God  all  crimes  against  others  are  punished 
by  unpleasant  effects  with  reformatory  intents;  but  for  ingrati- 

66 


MAX'S   'HUT;    RELATION  TO  GOD. 

'i  iido  to  God  \vli<>  i-  tlio  real  author  of  our  existence  and  all  tho 
blessings  comprised  in  life,  there  is  no  special  pnnishniLMit.no 
more  than  there  is  for  a  lack  of  homage  or  lo\e,  or  lor  non- 
pereept i< ni  ol'  his  existence.  His  Sun  shines  on  all.  and  no 
laws  giving  happiness  to  man  are  suspended  (or  the  punish- 
ment of  any  one. 

For  to  worship  and  be  grateful  towards  God  is  a  privilege 
pertaining1  to  our  liberty  to  exercise;  and  not  to  avail  our- 
selves of  these  preeious  privileges  is  to  deduct  wilfully  from 
our  own  happiness  and  well  being.  Man's  own  dignity 
requires  of  himself  what  God  requires  never,  that  is  the 
deepest  heart-felt  gratitude  towards  God  as  being  behind  all. 


C,7 


THE  REVELATION  OF  GOD: 


TO  GOD  WE  OWE  THE  GREAT  GIFT  OF   LIFE. 


By  no  guiding  principle  of  right  or  justice  known  among* 
men  has  man  any  claim  whatever  to  existence  and  the  happi- 
ness that  life  may  comprise.  Life  is  a  free  gift  to  man,  from 
a  high  Power  existing  antecedent  to  man's  advent  to  this 
world!  So  we  are  of  Divine  origin.  Life  is  costless  to  us,  but 
priceless!  The  conception  of  man's  existence  with  all  its 
accessorial  accompaniments  could  only  originate  in  a  high 
concreted  Wisdom  and  Goodness;  to  fully  appreciate  which 
no  man  or  woman  can  ever  aspire,  though  man  may  in  his  best 
state  of  perfection  faintly  comprehend  and  typify  in  his  own 
life  the  divine  character.  There  are  those  who  unjustly  de- 
preciate the  value  of  life  by  the  inquiry  "Is  life  worth  living?  " 
There  is  no  doubt  of  the  unequal  value  of  life  to  babes  who 
receive  it;  but  we  mast  not  forget  that  the  parents  themselves 
create  or  furnish  the  conditions  of  health  and  well  being  or 
otherwise,  under  which  we  are  all  born.  So  that  man  himself, 
and  not  God,  is  responsible  for  the  inequalities  of  birth  sym- 
bolized by  the  "  silver  spoon  "  and  "  wooden  ladle."  The 
power,  the  gift  of  life  is  from  God;  the  conditions  under  which 
we  are  born  are  created  by  man  and  appertain  to  his  liberty  of 
will.  At  all  events,  life  costs  nothing!  And  be  it  of  more  or 
less  value,  all  should  accept  and  cherish  it  with  grateful  hearts. 
It  is  a  combined  gift  of  God  and  our  parents,  the  latter  decid- 


MAX'S   TIUT:   RKLATIOX  TO  (iOD. 

in::'  upon  the  time  and  the  more  or  less  happy  conditions 
attending  our  advent.  Af'ler  all.  the  individual  power  of  pro- 
gressing and  improving'  as  we  advance*  in  life,  wliich  God  has 
given  us.  compensates  in  a  great  measure  lor  the  inequalities 
of  the  conditions  of  our  hirth.  Let  the  pessimistic  Christian 
who  has  claimed  through  so  main  ages  without  reason,  that 
man  is  by  nature  "totally  depraved,''  let  all,  keep  well  in  mind 
that  man  has  no  claim,  and  never  had,  to  any  existence  what- 
ever. Man  has  been  brought  into  being  by  a  high  disinter- 
ested Power,  and  endowed  with  a  liberty  that  makes  his  hap- 
piness depend  upon  himself:  and  further,  if  by  reason  of  an 
existence  to  which  he  has  no  right  or  claim,  he  enjoys  ever  so 
small  amount  of  happiness  or  well  being,  he  should  be  grate- 
ful for  that  small  amount,  since  he  is  not  entitled  to  any 
amount  whatever.  The  writer  hopes  that  these  just  views  when 
appreciated  by  those  with  pessimistic  tendencies,  will  make 
them  realize  the  injustice  of  attributing  to  the  Providence  of 
God  the  evils  that  exist  in  the  world,  such  as  war,  oppressive 
governments,  diseases,  sickness,  and  death  of  loved  ones, 
financial  looses,  injustices  of  others,  etc.  By  the  power  of  free- 
dom in  acting  by  units  and  masses,  by  knowledge  given  by 
experience,  by  acting  justly,  man  may  avoid  the  long  catalogue 
of  evils  which  he  now  experiences. 

Let  us  vindicate  the  ways  of  God  to  man !  God  is  not 
responsible  for  the  crimes  of  humanity.  Be  grateful  to  and 
trustful  in  God! 


THi:  REVELATION  OF  (iOD: 


WHAT  CAN  MAN  RENDER  TO  HIS  GOD? 
OR  GRATITUDE  AND  OBEDIENCE  TOWARD  GOD. 


To  act  justly  towards  all  men,  and  to  every  living  creature 
is  possible;  and  if  accomplished  would  go  far  towards  per- 
fecting in  a  moral  point  of  view  the  human  race.  But  few 
individuals,  few  communities,  few  nations  in  this  19th  century 
have  evolved  themselves  to  this  point.  In  our  relations  with 
God,  to  attribute  to  Him  simple  perfect  justice  in  his  relations 
with  us,  would  be  to  characterize  God  very  unjustly.  We  can- 
not attribute  to  Him  justice  in  our  human  sense  of  that  term! 
God  manifests  continually  towards  us  the  higher  qualities  of 
concreted  generosity  and  love.  It  would  be  safe  to  affirm  that 
he  is  higher  in  every  quality  indicating  intelligence  and  good- 
ness than  any  advanced  human  mind  can  conceive-him  to  be. 
Equity  and  justice  demand  an  equivalent  in  all  our  human  giv- 
ings  and  receivings  in  this  life ;  but  what  equivalent  can  we  give 
to  God  for  the  inestimable  blessing  of  existence  and  all  the 
happiness  we  have  the  power  to  work  out  of  it.  To  be  sure 
it  is  in  our  power  feebly  to  reflect  these  noble  traits  in  the 
character  of  God  towards  our  fellow  creatures:  we  are  in  a 
sense  his  children,  and  we  are  so  constituted  that  we  are 
enabled  to  be  just,  one  towards  another.  We  may  be  in  a 

70 


MAN'S   TRUE   RELATION   TO  GOD. 

degree  more  than  ju>t.  we  can  lie  generous.  ^  ••  may  dignity 
and  elevate  ourselves  \>\  gratefullv  doing  what  we  can  to 
I'n  rt  her  the  aims  of  our  Divine  IJenefactor.  As  to  the  extent  of 
<>ur  power  and  libertv  we  mav  oppose  and  thwart  the  aims  ol 
( i od.  so  hv  the  |>n\ver  and  extent  of  oni1  libert  v  we  may  aid  and 
co-operate,  in  the  furtherance  of  his  will.  'The  aim  and  intent 
of  the  Greater  is  that  the  human  race  shall  he  happy;  but  God 
will  never  do  for  man  what  man  can  do  for  himself.  The  pur- 
suits  and  activities;  of  man  are  given  him  to  be  exercised  and 
to  bear  the  fruit  of  happiness  and  content:  and  for  man  to 
make  himself  and  others  happy  is  to  further  God's  will  and 
intent.  lie  should  make  the  most  and  the  best  of  this  world 
rationally.  To  slight  or  to  think  lightly  of  the  precious  gift  of 
life  is  a  kind  of  insult  to  the  divine  Power  that  gave  it.  Life 
is  not  the  less  valuable  because  it  costs  us  nothing.  A  class 
of  men,  many  of  them  very  sincere,  teach  to  their  fellow 
creatures  that  there  will  be  another  life  beyond  the  grave, 
where  there  will  be  great  joy  for  a  few,  and  much  tribulation 
and  anguish  for  the  many.  But  according  to  these  preachers 
and  teachers,  God  has  so  hedged  the  road  to  the  next  life 
with  onerous  conditions  that  the  pious  ministers  themselves 
find  it  difficult  when  they  die  to  leave  their  address  with  any 
degree  of  certainty !  So  it  would  be  wise  not  to  waste  any 
gratitude  for  the  next  life  until  we  are  born  into  it  and  are  able 
to  survey  our  conditions  and  surroundings.  But  let  us  humbly 
acknowledge  with  grateful  hearts  the  precious  gift  and  reality  of 
this  life  and  rationally  make  the  most  of  it.  For  one  I  do  not 
feel  any  assurance  of  a  future  life;  but  I  do  feel  I  can  cheerfully 

71 


THE   REVELATION  OF  GOD  : 

trust  in  God  that  all  will  be  for  the  best!  Hope  is  the  cheering 
smile  of  God  in  our  minds  accompanying1  us  through  life-.  It  is 
true  we  are  not  all  equally  fortunate  and  happy  in  this  life,  and 
we  are  cut  off  in  life  at  all  ages.  But  since;  none  of  us  had  any 
claim  upon  Divine  Power  to  be  born  at  all,  we  have  no  ground 
for  complaint,  be  our  lives  long  or  short,  be  our  happiness 
much  or  little.  Surely  however,  it  is  not  sinful  for  us  to  enter- 
tain a  hope  that  what  we  desire  may  be  given  to  us;  and  if  we 
die  hoping1  for  a  future  life,  yet  do  not  receive  it,  total  uncon- 
sciousness will  render  it  impossible  for  a  soul  to  realize  a  dis- 
appointment. 

And  since  God  is  not  the  passionate,  tyrannical  tyrant  man 
sometimes  imagines  Him  to  be,  we  have  no  fears  of  a  hell  of 
torment  to  check  our  hope ! 

What  is  it  that  should  move  us  to  love,  to  adore,  to  respecty 
to  venerate  our  God?  What  motives  have  a  legitimate  claim 
to  influence  and  inspire  in  the  human  mind  these  feelings?  Is 
love  inspired  toward  God  because  He  is  powerful?  No!  His 
power  may  inspire  fear,  deference,  and  a  hope  that  He  will  not 
exercise  His  power  to  injure  us.  To  this  end  in  olden  tinier 
prayers  were  offered,  propitiatory  sacrifices  of  animals  and 
human  beings  made,  to  conciliate  a  supposed  angry  God 
whose  power  was  ever  ready  to  hurt.  There  was  no  true  love 
to  God  in  those  early  ages.  It  was  fear  alone.  The  uncivil- 
ized  races  of  men  were  themselves  brutal  and  cruel,  and  their 
conceptions  of  the  character  of  God  arose  from  their  own, 
mental  state,  so  uncultivated  and  unevolved.  Human  nature 
is  not  naturally  depraved  but  undeveloped.  Human  nature  is- 

72 


with  wonderful  eapaeitics  for  growt  1).  Let  us  take  the  rose  as 
an  emblem  <»f  human  development.  Walk  into  a  well-ftir- 
nished  eou>erva1orv  and  admire  the  beautiful  Mower  so  rich  in 
color  and  fragrance!  A  little  bed  of  petals  in  a  dee])  series 
one  over  the  other,  what  admiration  it  inspires!  Now  contraM 
the  exquisite  Victoria  rose  with  its  lowly  prototype,  the  prairie 
rose. 

Also  contrast  the  little  sour,  natural,  imevolved  forest  crab- 
apple  witli  our  admirable  Spitzenbergs,  Gravensteins  and  large- 
golden  Pippins.  The  same  with  our  mean  seedling  peaches 
as  contrasted  with  our  finest  grafted  fruit.  The  human  mind 
is  advancing,  but  in  progress  it  is  behind  many  fruits. 
Mowers  and  animals:  therefore  while  we  should  not  lessen  our 
endeavors  to  perfect  our  roses,  our  apples,  our  peaches,  our  dogs 
and  our  horses,  let  us  pay  more  attention  to  the  cultivation 
of  our  minds!  In  the  human  mind  is  implanted  the  same  prin- 
ciple or  power  of  advancement  towards  perfection  as  is  found 
in  the  prairie  rose,  but  the  humble  prototype  of  our  desert 
wastes  without  cultivation;  while  it  is  constituted  with  powers 
to  be  evolved  to  perfection,  it  must  be  aided  by  man's  intelli- 
gence, and  it  lends  itself  to  man's  influence.  So  should  man 
lend  himself  to  the  influences  constantly  operating  around  him. 
By  his  liberty,  by  his  intelligence  he  can  cultivate  himself  in 
his  relations  with  man.  God  shows  his  wisdom  and  persistent 
kindness;  let  us  humbly  imitate  Him  in  our  relations  with  our 
families  and  our  neighbors.  To  co-operate  with  God  in  well 
doing,  is  to  make  ourselves  one  with  Him. 

73 


Till-:   REVELATION  OF  GOD: 

And  this  reference  to  growth  and  development  in  fruit  > 
suid  vegetables,  as  well  as  in  animals  and  man  himself,  reminds 
us  of  the  kind  forethought  of  God  in  respect  to  these  gifts  of 
nature.  If  the  gifts  of  life,  mind,  reason  and  its  power  of  per- 
ception and  reflection,  added  to  the  gifts  of  our  relations  to 
parents  and  friends,  -  if  all  these  call  for  our  deepest  gratitude 
and  love  toward  their  disinterested  Giver,  let  us  not  pass  by 
the  lesser  gifts  which  the  Providence  of  God  has  showered 
upon  us.  These  lesser  gifts  which  are  expressly  intended  to 
perpetuate  life  and  to  increase  the  happiness  of  existence. 
Before  noting  some  examples  I  will  premise  that  it  is  an  article 
of  my  faith  to  believe  that  every  animal  existence  graded  below 
man,  and  all  trees,  shrubs  and  vegetables  graded  below  animal 
existences,  possess  life  and  well-being  to  the  full  extent  of 
their  power  and  capacity  for  sensuous  enjoyment. 

Here  is  a  peach  tree,  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that 
the  peach  tree  with  its  roots  is  in  pleasant  relations  with  the 
soil  in  which  it  searches  for  its  nourishment.  By  a  beneficent 
power  it  clothes  itself  in  Spring  with  leaves  and  blossoms.  By 
the  aid  of  soil,  sun  and  showers,  it  evolves  its  blossoms  into 
fruit,  which  increasing  in  size  at  the  proper  season  gives  us 
the  delicious  ripened  peach.  ]STow  for  whom  are  these 
peaches  intended?  Certainly  not  for  the  tree  itself,  since  it 
cannot  eat  or  use  them  and  drops  them  from  its  branches  after 
they  are  fully  ripe.  It  does  not  require  much  intelligence  to 
perceive  that  this  delicious  fruit  was  intended  by  our  divine 
and  considerate  Father  for  the  use  and  pleasure  of  man.  And 
as  with  the  peach,  so  with  the  orange,  the  grape,  the  straw- 

74 


MAX'S  TRIT;  RELATION  TO  GOD. 

berrv.  tlif  ;i  >j)k-.  the  pent-  and  all  the  endless  variety  of  fruits 
of  e\'ei'\'  elinie.  No  one  of  these  trees  or  vines  desires  its 
fruit  for  it.-elf;  all  reject  them.  '1'hey  are  all  for  man.  Let 
us  be  grateful  to  the  Creator  and  Snstainer  of  all  things  for 
these  delicate  attentions  kindly  added,  by  way  of  dessert,  to 
more  important  blessings! 

Gratitude  is   the    first    return  we  can  and    should   make   to 
God   for  His  i>-reat  infts  to  us.      But  do  we  owe  anything  else- 

O  O  J  ~ 

to  God  for  the  manifold  blessings  of  life?  Yes,  we  owe,  and 
I  thauk  Heaven  can  make,  another  and  a  most  important 
return  to  God  our  divine  Father:  we  can  obey  His  will  as  we 
ascertain  it,  and  so  further  His  intents  and  purposes  of  right- 
eousness in  this  world.  How  may  we  do  this?  By  learning 
the  laws  he  has  instituted  for  the  government  of  man  and  of 
all  nature.  These  laws  being  instituted  for  our  best  good,  an 
intelligent  self-interest  would  lead  us  to  obey  them.  But  there 
is  a  higher  reason,  even  gratitude,  a  principle  of  high  honor 
toward  Him  who  has  so  richly  endowed  and  blessed  us. 
Should  we  not  gladly  obey  our  best  friend? 


75 


Till-:    REVELATION    OF  GOD: 


GOD  OUR   FATHER. 


Are  we  not  justified  in  culling  God  our  divine  Father? 
Granted  that  our  resemblance  to  God  as  to  power,  wisdom, 
and  goodness,  is  but  Lilliputian,  and  that  therefore  the  figure 
of  speech  "  Our  Father"  is  an  exaggeration;  still  all  that  pro- 
ceeds from  a  divine  and  perfect  source  must  partake  in  some 
degree  of  its  perfectness  and  divinity.  And  man  as  the  crown 
and  flower  of  all  created  beings  must  more  than  all  others 
partake  of  the  character  of  the  Maker  of  all  things.  Certainly 
when  we  are  honored  by  being  made  the  active  agents  of  God 
in  every  good  work  for  our  own  development  of  character, 
and  for  the  well-being  of  our  kind,  we  represent  God.  And 
in  so  representing  Him  we  faintly  resemble  Him.  There  is 
Divine  Will:  and  there  is  in  a  small  degree,  human  will.  There 
is  Divine  Beneficence,  and  in  a  faint  shadowing  there  is  human 
beneficence.  These  resemblances  justify  us  in  claiming  the 
name  of  sons  and  daughters  of  God !  And  when  man  is  more 
developed  in  mental  stature  by  a  clear  comprehension  of  the 
true  character  of  God  and  of  his  own  true  relations  to  God, 
when  man  becomes  more  developed  morally  by  time  and  ex- 
perience, and  by  the  knowledge  and  the  exercise  of  all  the 
virtues,  his  resemblance  to  his  divine  Father  will  become  more 
apparent.  To  exercise  human  will  as  it  should  be  exercised, 

76 


MAN'S  TRUK   RELATION   TO  CiOD. 

i>  to  make  it  eo-operate  with  the  Higher  Will  of  a  Higher 
Power.  To  e.\erci>c  liiinian  will  in  the-  pur-nit  and  achieve- 
ment of  human  happiness  and  well-being  is  to  co-operate  with 
God  Himself.  Therefore  good  men  and  women  all  over  the 
world,  of  everv  race,  and  of  anv  religious  name,  who  are 
honest  and  trv  to  live  out  their  conviction-  of  dutv  mav  claim 
(iod  as  their  divine1  and  loving  Father! 

To  comprehend  our  true  relations  with  God  enables  us  to 
comprehend  the  duties  toward  ourselves  and  toward  our  fellow- 
men  which  grow  out  of  those  relations.  The  sentiments 
proper  lor  man  to  exercise  toward  his  divine  Father  must  or 
should  be  in  harmony  with  the  known  character  of  that  great 
Being.  My  strong  faith  is  in  the  perfect  righteousness  and 
goodness  of  God!  I  do  not  believe  there  exists  in  nature  or 
in  human  life,  as  constituted,  anything  to  justify  us  in  an 
arraignment  of  the  Power  or  Powers  above  the  human!  The 
governing  laws  and  principles  which  we  recognize  in  the  mani- 
festations of  nature  are  all  beneficent.  The  mass  of  mankind 
have  thought  and  acted  like  badly  made-up  children  respect- 
ing their  relations  with  God;  crying  and  begging,  fearful  or 
hopeful,  troublesome  towards  each  other,  and  demanding  great 
patience  from  their  Divine  Parent. 

God's  gift  of  life  to  man  with  all  the  happiness  which  life 
may  comprise,  has  been  full,  rich  and  free;  no  onerous  condi- 
tions attach  to  it.  Whether  we  acknowledge  the  existence 
and  goodness  of  God  or  not,  the  disinterested  paternal  kind- 
ness of  God  will  not  be  withheld  from  man  or  from  any  living 
creature  that  exists!  Therefore  our  relation  to  God  should  be 

77 


Till:   REVELATION    OF  (iOI). 

one  of  gratitude,  love  and  highest  veneration.  We  >hould 
liuinbly  acknowledge  the  existence  and  divine  Power  of  our 
first  and  greatest  friend,  that  great  Spirit  of  Intelligence  and 
Goodness  which  called  us  into  being.  It  is  not  necessarv  in 
order  to  cherish  these  sentiments  of  love  and  gratitude  that 
we  should  perceive  in  our  minds  a  personality.  We  know  of 
no  personality  higher  than  the  human.  But  since  men- 
tality exists  in  all,  and  is  manifested  in  all  the  operations  of 
nature  and  in  all  the  qualities  and  powers  of  human  life,  we 
may  look  up,  each  in  his  own  way,  to  the  Source  of  all  things 
in  trust  and  confidence. 

Let  us  adopt  for  ourselves  and  teach  our  children  a  religion 
that  honors  God  and  sustains  the  dignity  of  man.  The  true 
religion  is  one  of  faith  in  an  infinite  Righteousness  and  Love 
and  the  working  out  of  these  principles  of  the  Divine  Mature 
in  human  life. 

While  there  is  no  merit  in  belief  or  in  disbelief  respecting 
religious  creeds  and  concerns,  there  is  merit  in  the  honest  en- 
deavor to  arrive  at  truth  by  diligent  examination  and  perse- 
verance. To  search  for  truth  is  a  privilege  and  a  duty,  and 
the  truths  we  are  most  interested  to  know  are  those  concerning 
our  true  relations  with  God  and  with  man.  After  attaining 
this  knowledge  we  can  better  perform  the  duties  growing  out 
of  these  relations,  and  our  reward  in  performing  voluntarily 
these  duties  will  be  the  gift  from  God  of  an  intelligent,  pure 
conscience  in  which  is  manifested  His  approval. 

Our  truest  relations  to  God  ask  from  us  humility,  confi- 
dence, gratitude  and  love. 

78 


SECTION  SECOND. 


MAN'S  POWERS  AND  DUTIES. 

MAN'S  FREEDOM  AND  RESPONSIBILITY. 

THOUGHTS  ON  THE   LAWS  OE  NATURE:     WHY   DO  CHILDREN  DIE 
THE  LIMITATIONS  OF  HUMAN  FREEDOM. 
HUMAN  REASON  AND  JUDGMENT. 

LIBERTY  IN  THINKING. 
THE  LAW  OF  HUMAN  GROWTH. 

CONSCIENCE. 

THE  ELEMENTS  OF  A  NOBLE  CHARACTER. 

JUSTICE.  TRUTH.  FAITH.  HOPE. 

HUMOR.  CHARITY.  ANIMALS. 

SOCIAL  REFORMS:    TEMPERANCE. 

« 

THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  LIQUOR  AMENDMENT. 

CONCERNING  CHILDREN  AND  THEIR  RIGHTS. 

EDUCATION  OF  CHILDREN. 


MAN'S   POWERS    AND  DUTIES. 


MAN'S  FREEDOM  AND    RESPONSIBILITY. 

In  the  Universe  man  holds  unimportant  position;  although 
subject  to  the  operations  of  the  natural  laws,  he  is  free  within 
those  laws,  free  to  do  good  or  to  do  evil.  This  freedom  and 
responsibility  under  the  laws  of  mind  and  matter  constitute  his 
power  and  dignity.  Man  with  all  his  possibilities  of  evolving 
and  developing  himself  towards  perfection,  may  place  himself 
next  to  any  Power  his  mind  can  conceive  of;  as  a  faithful, 
honest  and  intelligent  dog  may  lovingly  and  respectfully  face 
his  master  and  look  him  fearlessly  in  the  eye,  so  may  an 
honest  intelligent  man  stand  erect  mentally  before  his  Maker; 
or  as  an  innocent  child  before  its  parents. 

Man  is  of  the  noblest  extraction  since  he  is  in  one  sense  a 
child  of  God  Himself.  He  is  created  with  power  to  feebly 
reflect  in  his  own  character  the  Spirit  of  Intelligence  and 
Goodness  from  which  he  sprang.  Let  us  cease  to  assent  to 
the  idea  of  man's  natural  depravity;  it  is  a  gross  error  and  an 
insult  both  to  man  and  to  his  Maker.  A  human  being  born  as 
a  perfect  child  in  innocence  and  health,  smiling  to  gladden 
the  heart  of  his  mother,  and  to  excite  the  paternal  pride  of 
the  father,  is  not  "  a  child  of  wrath  "  but  a  revelation  of  the 

81 


MAX'S   I'OWKRS   AND   Dl'TIKS. 

goodness  of  God.  Man  has  power  through  his  liberty  of 
action  to  advance  or  to  retard  his  own  development.  lint  we 
will  affirm  this  inueh  in  his  favor,  in  his  lowest  estate,  he 
has  individually  and  collectively  paid,  is  paying,  and  will  con- 
tinue to  pay,  the  full  penalty  of  his  errors  and  crimes  in  this 
world  by  the  penalties  that  the  divine  laws  of  mind  and  matter 
have  annexed  to  ignorance  and  crime.  After  doing  this,  a 
sufficient  capital  of  innate  intelligence  and  goodness  always 
remains  in  the  constitution  of  the  human  race  to  enable  it  to 
recommence  and  build  itself  up  by  advancing  in  virtue  and 
knowledge.  For  the  principle  of  man's  development  and 
recuperative  powers,  thank  God,  never  becomes  extinct  in  his 
race! 

The  stream  cannot  rise  higher  than  the  fount  from  which 
it  flows,  so  God  cannot  be  less  intelligent  than  the  combined 
intelligence  of  men  and  women;  God  cannot  be  less  loving 
and  affectionate  than  the  kindest  mother  can  be  towards  her 
innocent  confiding  child;  no  power  of  evolution  can  be  higher 
than  the  involuting  power  which  permits  it. 

How  happy  we  should  be  in  the  consciousness  that  we  may 

in  a  small  degree  partake  of,  and  faintly  shadow  forth,  the 

» 

intelligence,  goodness  and  character  of  God  Himself;  are  we 
not  in  mental  constitution,  in  our  inborn  liberty,  a  conception 
of  the  Divine  Mind  fitted  to  share  in  the  government  of  this 
world? 

The  consideration  of  our  relationship  with  the  high  Power  > 
so  high  above  us,  justifies  in  us  a  deep  sense  of  human  dignity. 
Let  us  always  act  with  the  highest  sense  of  honor  and  justice 
in  all  our  relations  in  life. 

82 


MAN'S   I'OWKKS   AXD  DL'TIKS. 

The  freedom  of  man  is  lii>  birthright,  it  belongs  to  the 
unchangeable  laws  or  constitution  of  things.  .Man's  freedom 
or  libertv  to  think  and  act  i>  the  greatest  boon  of  the  human 
constitution,  it  is  the  greatest  bles>ing  or  the  greatest  curse  as 
we  shall  wisely  use  or  ignorant  I  v  abn>e  it. 

God  i>  the-  author  of  all  good,  and  man  bv  virtue  of  his 
freedom  is  tlu-  author  of  both  good  and  evil.  Every  sensible 
man  gladly  acce])tsthe  blessings  of  life,  and  with  it  all  respon- 
sibilities comprised  in  his  existence.  God  never  interferes 
with  the  measure  of  freedom  accorded  to  man,  but  man  him- 
self interferes  with  the  freedom  and  well-being  of  his  fellow- 
man.  We  find  selfishness,  pride,  cruelty  and  injustice  in 
the  world;  we  also  find  an  inequality  in  the  powers  of  men 
which  would  not  be  in  itself  an  evil,  if  we  were  all  guided  by 
true  principles  of  justice,  morality  and  religion.  Although 
good  always  preponderates  in  the  world  in  spite  of  all  the 
errors,  crimes  and  injustice  which  exist,  yet  how  immeasurably 
could  the  well-being  and  happiness  of  mankind  be  increased, 
if  man  would  exercise  his  power  and  freedom  by  substitut- 
ing the  kindness,  the  amenities  and  all  the  virtues  which  are 
in  the  power  of  human  freedom  to  exercise,  in  place  of  injus- 
tice and  selfishness. 

Man's  liberty  and  will  are  so  great  in  this  world,  acting  as 
he  may  individually  or  collectively,  that  he  is  justified  in  con- 
sidering himself  a  power  in  the  Universe,  though  no  doubt 
comparatively  a  small  one,  still  a  power  which  justifies  his 
taking  a  dignified  position  in  his  own  estimation.  Man  is  even 
a  designer  and  creator,  for  he  can  create  anything,  from  an 

83 


MAN'S   POWERS   AND    IH'TIKS. 

earthern  pitcher,  to  a  splendid  palace  or  church  edifice,  pro- 
vided always,  that  his  metals  for  making'  tools  and  building 
materials  are  furnished  to  him  by  a  higher  Power.  Man  is 
permitted  by  his  physical  and  mental  constitution  to  act  and  to 
do  all  that  is  safe  and  consistent  with  his  well  being*  to  do. 
God  will  do  nothing  for  man  that  man  can  do  for  himself. 
For  anv  divine  Power  to  interfere  with  human  events  would 
be  unjust  after  having  established  responsibility  and  effects, 
good  or  bad,  to  all  our  actions.  Man  alone  interferes  with  the 
liberty  and  will  of  his  fellow-creatures. 

Everything  proves  the  intent  and  design  that  man  should, 
or  may,  make  himself  happy  in  his  sphere;  and  there  is  no  God, 
no  devil,  no  power  in  the  Universe,  but  man  himself  that  has 
brought  evil  into  the  world.  That  is,  there  is  no  power  but 
his  own  wayward  liberty,  freedom  and  will  to  prevent  his  im- 
proving the  world  towards  perfection.  ~No  power  will  or 
ought  to  force  or  change  man  into  a  happier  state  of  exist- 
ence; no  intervention  of  a  higher  Power  is  necessary  or  would 
be  in  order  to  make  man  happier.  The  time  will  come,  and  I 
hope  soon,  when  the  cheek  of  every  sensible  man  will  flush 
with  indignation  at  the  libelous  charge  that  a  higher  Power 
than  man  himself  is  the  author  of  any  misery  or  unhappiness 
in  any  form  that  exists  in  the  world.  By  whatsoever  and  by 
whomsoever  created,  man  exists  the  master  of  this  world,  and 
I  have  the  strongest  faith  that  he  will  continue  to  exist  as  a 
little  power  in  the  universe.  This  world  is  very  habitable  even 
at  present,  in  spite  of  inundations,  earthquakes,  storms,  and 
occasional  cyclones.  It  has  been  estimated  that  not  more  than 

84 


MAX'S   POWERS  AND  DUTIES. 

one  millionth  part  <>!'  one  per  cent,  of  human  life  is  lost  in  an 
age  by  these  operations  of  nature.  The  world  does  not 
appear  to  be  quite  perfect,  but  like  many  a  line  bouse,  it  is 
habitable  before  the  final  touches  are  given  to  it.  Evolution 
will  some  day  lead  us  to  appreciate  better  the  value  of  life, 
and  we  all  enjoy  enough  now  to  justify  the  exercise  of  the 
deepest  sense1  of  gratitude  to  xome  wise  and  beneficent  Power 
existing'  in  a  higher  sphere  than  our  own,  from  which  emanated 
this  world,  and  all  the  happiness,  and  possibilities  of  greater 
happiness  which  spring  from  its  existence. 

As  man  advances  in  knowledge,  so  will  his  power  increase 
for  good  or  for  evil,  as  he  may  elect.  With  power  to  restrain 
himself,  man  is  the  author  of  all  crime,  and  consequent  misery 
in  the  world;  with  power  to  augment,  man  lessens  the  sum  of 
human  happiness.  Man  himself  is  the  only  obstructionist  to 
progress  in  religion,  in  morals,  in  politics,  in  medicine.  With 
power  to  elevate,  man  degrades  himself;  for  instance,  endowed 
with  reason  to  guide,  he  voluntarily  makes  of  himself  a 
drunkard,  which  beasts,  gifted  only  with  instinct,  decline  to 
do.  He  smokes  and  chews  tobacco,  a  nauseous  filthy  weed, 
which  every  beast,  with  divine  instinct,  superior  to  man's  com- 
mon sense  in  this  matter,  refuses  to  taste  of-  Man  is  the  only 
animal  endowed  with  the  largest  reason,  freedom  and  will,  and 
he  is  the  only  animal  who  stupidly  abuses  his  reason,  freedom 
and  will  to  injure  himself  and  others.  In  the  matter  of  what 
is  called  religion,  man  has  used  the  great  freedom  of  belief 
with  which  he  is  endowed  to  build  up  a  false  and  libelous  con- 
ception of  God,  and  compel  others  by  cruel  persecutions  to 

85' 


MAN'S  POWERS  AND  DTTIKS. 

worship  it!  Hut  under  all  this  misrepresentation  and  abuse  i  he- 
real  and  living'  God,  that  "  God  of  the  great  mind  and  the  great 
heart  "  which  Thomas  Paine  believed  in,  preserves  still  his  self- 
possession  and  equanimity.  His  love  is  not  shaken  toward  the 
whole  human  family  in  the  slightest  degree.  His  sun  shines 
alike  on  the  sensible  and  the  foolish  and  ignorant.  Xo  more 
than  a  human  parent  is  moved  to  anger  when  his  infant  child 
pulls  his  hair,  is  God  moved  to  anger  at  the  foolish  idea  of 
some  Christian  believer  that  he  has  prepared  an  eternal  hell  of 
punishment  for  those  who  doubt  the  Christian  scheme  of  sal- 
vation! If  humor  is  of  divine  origin,  and  for  one  I  believe  it 
is,  such  a  caricature  of  divine  love  and  wisdom  must  awaken 
a  smile  on  any  celestial  countenance!  The  true  character  of 
the  all-seeing,  all-comprehending  God  is  intelligence,  powerr 
disinterestedness  and  love,  all  concreted  and  perfect. 

Over  us  all  our  Heavenly  Father  extends  the  same  benefi- 
cent care  and  protection,  whatever  we  may  think  about  Himr 
or  even  if  we  deny  His  existence. 

A  sincere  belief  in,  and  conscientious  observance  of  any 
form  of  religious  belief  seems  to  bring  satisfaction  and  con- 
tent to  the  average  mind,  whether  or  not  that  belief  is  in 
consonance  with  the  real  facts  of  nature  and  human  life.  God 
himself  seems  to  have  annexed  no  onerous  conditions  to  belief 
or  to  disbelief.  We  may  all  bask  in  the  kind  influences  of 
His  benevolence  whether  we  appreciate  that  benevolence  or 
not.  In  the  providence  of  God,  Calvin  and  Thomas  Paine 
are  given  equal  advantage  and  protection  by  His  beneficent 
laws,  and  are  allowed  equal  chances  for  happiness  in  all  their 

86 


MAX'S  i'o\\  I:RS  AND  IH'TIKS. 

relations  of  life-.  lie  who  cannot  see  or  idealixe  a  God  through 
the  phenomena  of  nature,  seems  to  me  afflicted  with  mental 
blindness:  hut  he  may  be  honest  and  sincere  and  a  good 
man. 

And,  if  so,  the  Atheist  even,  need  not  fear  being  neglected 
oi1  punished  in  this  world  or  any  other.  Although  he  denies 
the  existence  of  God,  the  sun  will  shine  upon  him  even  as  upon 
religious  devotees.  His  mother,  his  wife  and  his  children  will 
love  him,  his  industry  and  prudence  in  business  will  not  fail  to 
bring  due  profits,  and  no  other  blessings  will  be  denied  him 
that  his  character  and  capacity  entitle  him  to  receive.  The 
end  and  aim  of  Divine  Existence  is  not  to  receive  homage  and 
worship  from  man.  To  worship  and  honor  God  is  a  human 
privilege.  It  is  not  a  requirement  of  a  vain  and  despotic  God. 
And  the  Athiest  who  cannot  perceive  or  imagine  any  paternal 
divine  Power  is  justified  in  withholding  such  worship.  I  know 
of  no  class  of  men  more  sincere  and  honest  than  Agnostics 
and  Atheists  and  unbelievers  in  general.  It  is  not  for  their 
worldly  interest  to  differ  from  such  large  and  powerful  inter- 
ests in  society  as  are  comprised  within  the  Church  life.  The 
Christian  sects  are  not  generally  friendly  to  those  who  do  not 
join  them.  If  I  understand  the  character  of  the  Atheist,  he  is 
one  who  is  determined  not  to  adopt  the  idea  of  the  existence 
of  God  without  perceiving  sulficient  evidence  to  justify  an 
honest  conviction  of  the  fact.  He  is  more  to  be  honored  in 
holding  such  a  position  than  those  whose  minds  are  so  plastic 
that  they  receive  easily  without  examination  the  belief  of  others 
in  regard  to  the  existence  and  character  of  the  Supreme  Being. 

87 


MAN'S   POWERS  AND  DUTIES. 

The  unbelief  of  Atheists  and  of  all  honest  doubters  implies 
previous  reflection  and  examination  to  arrive  at  the  position 
they  hold,  and  is  more  hopeful  than  is  the  condition  of  one  who, 
like  many  Christians,  clings  superstiously  to  a  false  concep- 
tion of  God  opposed  to  all  true  reason  and  just  views  of  life. 
And  it  may  be  that  further  reflection  and  deeper  thought  may 
carry  all  honest  doubters  to  the  point  of  belief  in  higher 
grades  of  intelligence  and  wisdom  than  that  of  man. 

The  Atheist  has  been  often  justified  in  his  unbelief  because 
the  character  of  the  God  iu  whom  he  has  been  asked,  even 
commanded,  to  believe,  was  represented  to  be  so  cruel  and 
revengeful.  Now  that  we  can  conceive  of  a  Heavenly  Father 
who  is  more  transcendently  noble  and  kind  than  the  best  of 
human  beings,  it  may  be  far  easier  to  bring  the  Agnostic  and 
Atheist  to  the  belief  in  God. 


88 


THOUGHTS  ON  THE  LAWS   OF    NATURE.      WHY    DO 

CHILDREN  DIE? 


We  are  immersed  in  God's  laws  of  nature:  \ve  should  sludv 
and  be  guided  by  them,  or  large  deductions  from  our  happi- 
ness will  be-  the  result  of  our  neglect  of  care  and  wisdom. 
God's  will  is  conspicuously  shown  by  the  death  of  imperfectly 
constituted  children.  The  laws  of  nature  are  simply  agencies, 
they  have  no  responsibilities,  they  are  but  the  influence  of  our 
Divine  Father,  who  is  behind  them.  The  operations  of  the 
laws  of  nature  express  the  will  of  God.  Now  even  we  can 
comprehend  the  necessity  of  keeping  up  the  human  races  to  a 
certain  point  of  vitality  and  perfection;  we  recognize  it  as  the 
law  of  "  the  survival  of  the  fittest/'  It  is  like  choosing  men 
as  soldiers  for  the  army,  they  must  pass  muster  or  be  refused. 
A  better  simile  perhaps  is  the  testing  of  cannon  for 
government.  Every  cannon  after  being  cast,  is  submitted  to 
tests  of  strength  and  soundness,  by  extra  charges  of  powder, 
before  it  can  pass  into  the  service  of  our  country :  each  must 
pass  muster  or  be  condemned.  Now  precisely  the  same  prin- 
ciple governs  our  divine  Father  in  regard  to  our  children. 
There  are  children  so  healthy  and  well  born  as  to  escape  the 
necessity  of  these  tests,  but  how  many  must  be  submitted  to 
these  tests  and  die  under  them?  More  than  one-half  of  all 


MAN'S   POWERS  AND  DUTIES. 

children  horn,  die  under  live  years  of  age  ;  and  so  on  :  the 
proportion  diminishing'  after  tliat  age.  These  tests  are 
measles,  whooping  cough,  and  an  extended  catalogue  \vhich 
the  reader  may  call  to  mind.  !Xow  these  are  the  tests  to  which 
God  submits  our  children,  in  order  that  our  race  may  be  kept 
up  to  a  certain  degree  of  strength  and  health  to  insure  its 
survival,  and  it  imi8t  be  so.  It  is  of  no  use  for  affectionate 
parents  to  pray  and  weep  about  the  loss  of  children  since 
no  human  power  can  contravene  the  will  of  God  in  laws 
relating  to  the  happiness  and  well  being  of  mankind.  The 
will  of  God  should  be  done  in  all  things,  and  the  happiness 
of  mankind  is  the  end  and  aim  of  divine  laws. 

Let  us  never  forget  that  we  create  circumstances,  and  that 
individually  and  collectively  we  are  responsible  for  all  error 
and  crime.  We  as  children  experience  the  good  or  evil  effects 
of  the  liberty  and  freedom  of  action  of  our  parents  and  fore 
fathers  ;  and  we  are  responsible  each  and  all  in  onr  day  and 
generation  for  all  error  and  violations  of  the  laws  of  nature 
which  are  the  laws  of  God,  and  which  are  punished  here  by 
unpleasant  physical  and  mental  effects.  Parents  are  some- 
times painfully  punished  with  the  consciousness  of  transmit- 
ting to  their  posterity  the  effects  of  their  wrong  doing.  Do 
you  marry,  for  money  or  for  any  other  consideration,  a  girl 
who  has  the  misfortune  to  have  entailed  upon  her  any  con- 
stitutional disease,  such  as  scrofula,  consumption  or  any  mal- 
formation of  mind  or  body?  If  you  do  this  you  commit  a 
species  of  crime,  and  the  consequences  of  the  crime  will 
inevitably  fall  upon  both  parents  in  exact  proportion  to  the 

90 


MAN'S    POWERS   AND    DUTIKS. 

enormitv  of  it.  Sickly,  malformed  children  are  invited  to 
appear  in  the  world  \vho  should  never  have  been  invited,  but 
who  come  with  no  power  of  refusal,  to  s idler  by  sickness  and 
death.  The  sufferings  of  such  children  are  reflected  back 
upon  their  parents  who  are  the  wrong'  doers.  Parents  are 
punished  bv  their  wounded  affections,  for  parents  cannot 
escape  from  the  natural  instincts  of  love  and  att'eetion  towards 
their  children  who  sutler,  sicken  and  die.  Parents  experience 
heart-rending  sorrow  at  the  physical  ills  of  their  children,  loss 
of  time  in  watching,  terrible  anxiety  and  desire  to  alleviate  the 
sufferings  of  their  dear  children  unwillingly  and  cruelly  cut 
off  from  life,  heavy  expenses  of  funerals,  medicine  and  doctor's 
visits;  added  to  this  is  the  consciousness,  supposing  the  par- 
ents have  common  intelligence,  that  they  themselves  are  the 
guilty  parties  who  have  caused  this  suffering.  All  these  evils 
might  have  been  avoided  by  the  knowledge  and  observance  of 
the  laws  of  heredity,  for  from  healthy  parents  come  healthy, 
happy  children. 

Some  intelligent  Power  in  a  sphere  higher  than  the  one 
man  moves  in,  has  established  what  we  term  "  the  laws  of 
nature,"  and  the  good  and  wicked,  the  ugly  and  the  beautiful 
in  humanity,  are  all  inevitably  subjected  to  their  unswerving 
action. 

We  all  know  that  the  saint  and  the  sinner,  the  king  and 
his  meanest  subject  are  all  treated  alike  in  the  operation  of 
natural  laws.  Carelessness,  in  its  effects,  is  often  equivalent  to 
crime,  and  by  social  human  laws  is  becoming  more  and  more 
so  considered.  God  never  interferes  to  prevent  the  disas- 

91 


MAN'S    POWKRS   AND    DUTIKS. 

tors  attendant  on  carelessness  in  human  freedom;  and  there  is 
no  partiality  to  individuals  shown  by  any  Superior  Power.  In 
stepping  carelessly  upon  a  glare  of  ice,  the  Pope  himself  would 
slip  as  soon  as  his  humblest  follower.  There  are  no  "  special 
providences"  in  favor  of  the  pious  or  sinful,  none  in  regard  to 
those  who  pray  or  those  who  abstain  from  prayer;  and  the 
sooner  we  realize  the  truth  of  this  principle  the  better  will  it  be 
for  us. 

With  our  freedom  and  liberty  is  linked  responsibility  ;  and 
they  greatly  err  who  believe  that  God  interferes  in  the  acts  of 
men  by  what  is  called  "  special  providences,"  for  if  He  did 
so,  He  would  remove  from  us  our  individual  and  collective 
responsibility  and  take  it  upon  Himself.  And  this  he  never 
does.  Ingrained  in  the  constitution  of  things  on  this  planet 
is  the  kindly  corrective  influence  of  the  inevitable  bad  con- 
sequences of  crime  and  error,  and  the  instructive  good  con- 
sequences of  virtuous  and  intelligent  action. 

We  may  doubt  the  truth  of  any  system  of  worship,  that 
cannot  weave  into  its  service  all  truth  of  every  science  and 
department  of  human  knowledge.  There  are  no  discords  in 
the  harmony  of  nature,  except  those  discords  that  appertain  to 
the  liberty  of  man  to  make,  within  the  province  of  his  natural 
power.  For  as  interference  of  the  finest  hair  may  disturb  the 
fine  mechanism  of  a  watch,  so  may  the  misuse  of  human 
liberty  and  power  disturb  the  harmony  that  might  exist  in 
man's  relations  with  his  fellow  man,  the  laws  of  nature,  and 
his  God.  Must  we  then  condemn  the  institution  of  human 
liberty  by  higher  powers?  His  liberty  dignifies  and  elevates- 

92 


MAN  S    POWERS    AXI)    DUTIES. 

man  in  the  scale  of  being  above  all  other  animals.  .But  there 
is  great  responsibility  attending  the  exercise  of  it  in  face  of 
the  divine  laws  of  nature,  and  in  all  our  relations  with  our  fel- 
low creatures.  Liberty  should  be  in  harmony  with  justice 
and  kind  consideration  to  all  above  us  and  below  us  in  the 
grade  of  social  existence,  and  to  grades  of  animals  benetith 
us.  Responsibility  of  eifects  is  the  inevitable  accompanying' 
shadow  of  the  exercise  of  human  liberty!  To  the  extent  of 
his  liberty,  man  individually  and  collectively,  is  the  author  of 
all  the  effects  consequent  upon  the  exercise  of  his  liberty  and 
will.  The  physical  and  mental  conditions  into  which  we  are 
born,  the  various  degrees  of  slavery  in  which  as  individuals 
and  communities  we  find  ourselves  placed,  the  injustices,  the 
power  of  ignorance  and  superstition  to  which  we  are  sub- 
jected, do  not  contravene  the  extent  and  truth  of  this  law  of 
human  liberty,  since  by  and  through  human  liberty  these  con- 
ditions of  man  are  created.  Would  man  exchange  his  exist- 
ence with  a  comparatively  irresponsible  lower  animal,  and  thus 
lose  the  dignity  and  intelligence  that  appertain  to  his  caste? 
I  think  not!  No  one  can  contend,  however,  that  man's  will 
is  not  circumscribed.  He  is  under  and  subject  to  the  influ- 
ence of  universal  divine  law.  The  existence  of  divine  invisi- 
ble Mind  is  proved  by  the  operation  of  law,  as  the  existence 
of  human  mind  is  proved  by  man's  creations  of  constitutions 
and  his  social  invisible  laws,  also  in  his  creations  of  material 
forms,  materials  being  furnished  by  a  higher  Power.  Man  is 
endowed  with  reason  and  power  to  be  just  towards  his  fel- 
lows, he  creates  all  the  laws  of  sociology;  all  political  laws, 

93 


MAX'S    POWERS   AND    DUTIKS. 

all  his  religions  are  of  his  own  conception  and  creation.  God 
permits  the  existence  of  all  religions,  whatever  their  errors 
and  superstitions;  wre  may  pray,  and  write  our  religions 
creeds,  state  our  beliefs,  insist  upon  the  fact  that  we  arc-  of 
sufficient  importance  in  the  economy  of  nature  to  be  immortal, 
or  we  may  believe  that  death  ends  all:  it  pertains  to  human 
liberty  to  believe  in  anything.  God  makes  no  sign  in  ratifi- 
cation of  what,  is  true,  nor  does  He  condemn  what  a  portion 
of  us  think  is  false!  The  world  and  the  universe  are  full  of 
truth,  but  man  must  exercise  his  activities  of  mind  to  dis- 
cover it.  Man  must  solve  all  problems  that  interest  himself. 
Now  let  us  all  be  guided  in  our  researches  by  reason  and  ex- 
perience, and  work  out  our  own  salvation  from  error  and 
superstition  which  bear  us  down.  We  will  avail  ourselves  of 
our  God-given  privilege  of  worshipping  Him  in  our  own  way, 
as  we  may  incline.  Let  us  pretend  to  no  knowledge  we  do 
not  possess,  and  no  love  or  inspiration  we  do  not  feel,  for  God 
loves  sincerity  in  all  things. 


THE    LIMITATIONS   OF    HUMAN    FREEDOM. 


Kaoh  mind  is  a  little  moral  world  in  itself,  having  its  own 
laws,  with  a  central  supervising  power  we;  call  the  Ego,  or  con- 
sciousness. Like  a  community  each  mind  has  its  judge  or 
ruler,  it  has  its  judiciary  or  reflective  powers  in  constant  ses- 
sion, except  when  we  are  asleep,  to  judge  of  right  and  wrong. 
Each  mind  has  also  its  executive  power,  or  will,  to  act  upon 
the  decisions  of  the  superior  reflective  powers  of  the  mind, 
like  the  marshal  or  constable  who  obeys  the  behests  of  a  court. 
The  Executive  power  is  not  responsible  for  the  perfection  of 
the  Constitution,  but  only  for  the  execution  of  laws,  and 
courts,  from  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  down- 
wards, only  decide  in  accordance  with  the  higher  laws  of  the 
Constitution;  so  in  the  individual  mind  there  are  absolute 
immutable  principles  of  right  and  justice  to  which  the  judg- 
ments and  decisions  of  the  court  of  the  mind  refer,  and  which 
the  will  or  executive  power  is  bound  to  obey.  Since  mind  is 
concomitant  with  all  organized  matter  in  all  nature,  the  degree 
and  quality  of  mind  in  each  organized  being,  is  in  exact 
accordance  with  the  sphere  in  which  that  organized  being  is 
intended  to  move.  By  the  operation  of  this  law,  which  was 

95 


MAN'S   POWERS   AND    IH'TIES. 

not  instituted  I))7  the  organism  itself  but  by  a  higher  power,  it 
cannot  swerve  from  the  orbit  of  its  sphere.  Therefore  human 
liberty,  which  I  believe  to  be  absolute  under  divine  laws  in  its 
own  department  of  life,  is  limited  like  that  of  all  organized 
existence  both  beneath  and  above  man  to  the  sphere  of  man's 
own  powers  and  duties.  Liberty  is  a  power  or  quality  of  the 
human  mind,  which  is  of  all  others  the  highest  and  most  com- 
plex in  its  organization.  Through  this  power  of  liberty,  or  the 
power  to  shape  our  own  action  toward  ends  which  the  reason 
perceives  to  be  good,  comes  the  ability  to  make  progress,  or 
the  power  of  evolution.  From  the  godlike  liberty  of  the 
human  mind  proceed  its  activities.  From  its  activities,  con- 
jointly with  the  faculty  of  memory,  comes  experience,  which, 
by  the  aid  of  reason,  impels  to  improvement.  This  grand 
principle  of  growth  or  development  rests  upon  the  glorious 
gift  of  freedom  and  human  liberty  of  thought  and  will.  For 
without  freedom  and  liberty  to  act  as  we  wish,  there  could  be 
no  vice  and  no  virtue  among  men.  All  our  acting  and  even 
our  thinking  would  in  that  case  be  but  the  exercise  of  some 
arbitrary  power  outside  our  own  natures.  The  belief  in  the 
doctrine  of  necessity,  i.  e.  that  a  human  being  must  do  what 
he  or  she  does  do,  if  carried  out  in  practice  is,  it  appeal's  to  me, 
one  of  the  most  erroneous  and  destructive  that  the  human 
mind  can  conceive  of.  To  the  mind  accepting  this  doctrine, 
human  responsibility  has  no  meaning,  virtue  and  vice  have  110 
meaning.  If  the  believer  in  necessity  believes  in  justice,  then 
he  should  believe  that  the  consequences  attendant  on  virtue 
and  vice  should  be  the  same.  Why  should  virtuous  conduct 

96 


MAX'S   I'OWKKS  AND   DUTIES. 

be  productive  of  happiness,  and  vicious  conduct  be-  productive 
of  misery?  ^Vhy  if  the  virtuous  and  vicious  inuxt  do  as  they 
(/<>.  have  \ve  any  need  of  human  ti'ibunals,  of  any  judgo  or 
juries?  The  believers  in  this  doctrine  of  necessity  must  think 
that  (iod  is  in  error,  inasmuch  a>  he  attache-  to  virtuous 
action  effects  that  are  both  pleasant  and  encouraging  to  us  to 
persevere  in  the  guiding  principles  of  conscience  and  reason, 
and  in  scientific  research  after  truth;  and  attaches  the  opposite 
effects  to  wrong  action. 

JNo,  rounded  and  full  to  the  measure  of  our  being  is  the 
liberty  accorded  to  man  by  Xature,  which  is  but  another  name 
for  the  Power  above  all  nature  and  life.  Individual  liberty  is 
as  rounded  and  full  as  the  collective  liberty  of  a  nation,  which 
is  an  entity  composed  of  individuals.  That  there  are  restraints 
and  unjust  limitations  of  human  liberty  toward  individuals 
and  toward  nations  is  undeniable.  But  these  restraints  pro- 
ceed from  a  misuse  of  liberty  of  action  on  the  part  of  other 
associations  of  human  individuals.  Man  has  the  liberty  to  do 
wrong  as  well  as  to  do  right,  hence  the  evil  in  the  world,  not 
of  God's  but  of  man's  creation.  And  God  having  instituted 
good  effects  to  follow  good  and  wise  actions,  and  bad  effects 
to  follow  bad  and  foolish  actions,  could  not  justly  interfere  in 
the  operation  of  His  inexorable  laws  with  what  are  called 
"special  providences."  Hence  all  prayers  offered  to  God, 
uttered  with  intent  to  induce  Him  to  avert  from  us  calamity 
which  is  caused  by  our  own  ignorance  or  wrong  doing,  is  not 
only  folly,  but  an  insult  to  the  justice  and  beneficence  of  our 
Heavenly  Father.  It  is  doubting  the  wisdom  of  God  "  who 

97 


MAN'S  POWERS  AND  DUTIES. 

orders  all  things  well"  to  pray  for  anything',  either  spiritual  or 
material.  It  is  a  futile  attempt  to  substitute  the  will  or  power 
of  man  for  the  will  or  power  of  God. 

Address  our  God  either  in  private  or  in  publie  assembly, 
not  in  begging  petition  alike  dishonoring  to  Him  and  to  us,  but 
with  hearts  overflowing  with  gratitude  and  love  give  humble 
acknowledgments  of  the  blessings  we  have  reeeived.  Such 
grateful  acknowledgments  of  favors  received,  coupled  with  a 
confession  of  our  own  sins,  both  of  omission  and  commission, 
would  instill  into  the  minds  of  listening  children  a  knowledge 
of  our  true  relations  with  God,  and  would  thus  aid  in  promot- 
ing the  truest  principles  of  religion.  And,  although,  as  I  have 
often  said  before,  God  does  not  require  either  public  or  private 
recognition  of  His  kind  care  and  sustenance,  no  man  can  afford 
to  forego  the  privilege  of  openly  expressed  gratitude  to  that 
Power  which  has  endowed  us  with  life  and  all  the  well  being 
that  human  liberty  permits  us  to  enjoy.  The  exercise  of  even 
this  high  privilege  of  openly  acknowledging  the  Divine  Benefi- 
cence appertains  to  the  free  choice  of  human  freedom.  Man 
has  the  power  to  comprehend  his  own  relationship  with  God; 
and  by  virtue  of  his  inborn  freedom  he  may  keep  himselt 
far  off  or  near  to  Him.  The  more  man's  heart  and  head  are 
rightly  and  harmoniously  cultivated,  the  nearer  I  believe  will 
he  approach  God.  Let  us  all  aspire  by  the  cultivation  ot 
intelligence  and  goodness  to  be  the  true  sons  and  daughters  of 
God !  A  spark  of  the  Divine  Mind  more  or  less  bright  exists 
in  every  human  mind  and  heart.  By  the  exercise  of  kindness 
and  sincerity  toward  those  with  whom  we  have  relations  and 

98 


MAN'S    POWERS    AND    DUTIES. 

by  tin-  >ludy  and  appreciation  of'  our  true  relations  with  our 
divine  Father  that  divine  --park  may  be  fanned  into  an  endur- 
ing ilanir  to  light  and  clieer  us  through  the-  world:  and  when 
we  die  we  can  in  full  faith  trust  that  the  Power  which 
made  our  birth  a  blessing  will  not  make  an  inevitable  death  a 
misfortune. 

How  shall  we  use  and  develop  human  freedom  *J.  Since  by 
the  endowment  of  human  liberty  our  minds  may  //•///.  and  we 
may  freely  perform  in  this  life  every  duty,  we  need  not  pray 
to  God  for  strength  to  enable  us  to  be  virtuous.  No  God  nor 
devil  prevents  man's  performance  of  all  moral  and  religious 
duties.  Having  already  received  from  Divine  Beneficence  a 
mind,  with  reason,  heart  and  hands  with  power  to  do  all  that 
we  should  do,  it  is  useless  and  puerile  to  seek  for  further 
favors  from  our  Divine  Father.  This  seeking  would  imply  that 
God  had  wilfully  or  unintentionally  omitted  something  from 
his  free  gifts  that  we  were  justified  in  reminding  him  of.  On 
the  contrary  we  should  ever  gratefully  acknowledge  that  we 
have  received  all  that  we  need  from  One  whose  benevolence 
requires  no  promptings  from  His  earthly  children. 

~No  reply  to  begging  petitions  has  ever  been  received  by 
man  from  any  Power  in  the  universe.  Nor  should  such  reply 
be  received  from  an  infinite  Wisdom  and  Love.  Petitions  are 
sometimes  in  order  from  one  human  being  toward  another  of 
superior  power,  and  perhaps  of  tyrannical  purpose.  But  not 
from  man  toward  the  Giver  of  all  good. 

How  wise  and  admirable  is  the  conception  of  the  whole 
constitution  of  man,  bodily  and  mentally  !  And  then  our  social 

99 


MAN'S   POWERS   AND   DUTIES. 

and  family  relations  and  our  harmonious  relation  to  external 
nature.  .No  man  or  woman  is  wise  enough  to  criticise  these 
gilts  of  God  to  us,  or  to  suggest  an  improvement  by  begging 
petitions  to  the  Supreme  Giver!  In  the  higher  grade  of  being 
lies  the  power  to  comprehend  the  nature  and  the  needs  of  the 
inferior  grade.  To  a  much  lesser  degree  can  the  inferior  com- 
prehend the  higher.  There  are  some  virtues  in  grades  of 
being  below  man,  which  man  finds  it  difficult  to  attain.  For 
example  the  dog  has  an  unquestioning  confidence  and  affection 
toward  his  Master.  In  man's  relations  with  God  this  same 
confidence  and  affection  should  exist,  with  the  added  assurance 
that  evils  which  beset  us  are  not  caused  by  the  injustice  of 
God,  but  result  from  the  operation  of  wise  and  inexorable 
laws.  Should  a  man  lose  his  children,  should  his  house  be 
destroyed  by  fire,  should  he,  lacking  obedience  to  some  law  ot 
nature  take  a  severe  cold  and  die,  his  last  thought  should  be 
"All  these  misfortunes  rightly  happen."  God  gives  ns  life 
freely,  but  with  the  gift  are  annexed  conditions  which  must 
be  fulfilled.  Natural  and  moral  laws  must  be  obeyed. 

Every  man  should  be  educated  to  understand,  accept  and 
obey  these  laws.  Man  is  endowed  with  liberty  to  think  and 
study  and  learn  these  laws,  and  he  is  also  endowed  with  liberty 
of  action  to  obey  them.  He  is  finding  out  the  justice  and 
necessity  of  their  existence  by  bitter  experience,  but  he  is 
endowed  with  liberty  to  so  act  as  to  place  himself  in  harmony 
with  these  laws  and  ensure  his  well  being  and  happiness. 
He  is  learning  how  with  care  he  may  secure  old  age,  and  how 
by  attention  to  the  laws  of  heredity  his  children  may  be  well 

100 


MAX'S   I'OWEKS  AM)   DUTIES. 

constituted.  If  bv  reason  of  our  own  disobedience1  to  God's 
laws  severe  conse<[iienees  of  fullering'  come  upon  us,  let  us  not 
impugn  the  justice  of  God,  but  rathei1,  exercising' confidence 
and  love,  seek  to  learn  how  to  avoid  such  calamities  in  the 
future-. 

Not  only  is  our  divine  Father  to  be  honored  by  dedicating 
memorial  churches,  by  grate ful  acknowledgments,  and  by  that 
warmth  of  heart  love  growing  out  of  our  consciousness  that 
we  are  the  objects  of  His  generous  disinterested  care,  but 
more  than  all  we  should  honor  Him  to  the  full  power  of  our 
human  freedom  and  will  by  co-operating  with  Him  in  advancing 
the  well  being  of  humanity.  The  limitations  or  bounds  of  our 
human  freedom  and  will  are  as  wide  as  the  world  we  live  in, 
and  as  extended  as  are  human  activities  and  human  relations. 
Within  these  bounds  we  are  responsible  for  evil  conditions, 
and  to  this  extent  we  may  co-operate  with  God  in  helping 
mankind  to  attain  more  and  more  perfect  conditions. 

There  is  power  in  human  organization,  and  it  pertains  to 
human  liberty  to  organize  for  good  or  for  evil.  And  both 
forms  of  combination  may  be  successful  in  their  aims.  For 
man  to  organize,  is  for  him  to  exercise  collectively  human  free- 
dom and  will  power.  Freedom  and  will  have  in  the  abstract 
no  moral  quality.  It  is  the  mind  and  heart  of  man  which  are 
responsible  for  their  use  toward  the  highest  ends.  And 
although  thought  and  purpose  are  so  free  and  unhindered  in 
the  individual  that  no  other  can  even  know  what  passes  in  a 
man's  mind,  the  consequences  of  acts  resulting  from  the  most 
secret  purposes  are  shared  by  all  related  to  him.  No  man's 

101 


MAN'S   POWERS  AM)  DUTIES. 

virtuous  nets  result  in  good  to  himself  alone.  And  no  man 
can  commit  a  crime  without  injuring  the  well  being  of  his 
family,  of  the  community  in  which  he  lives,  and  the  nation  to 
which  he  belongs.  So  that  individually  we  are  affected  by  and 
affect  society.  A  virtuous  or  an  evil  act  like  a  pebble  dropped 
into  the  calm  surface  of  a  pond  sends  an  influence  to  the  out- 
ward verge  of  social  organism. 

Truly  it  is  said  u  By  their  works  ye  shall  know  them/' 
We  know  the  nature  of  God  by  His  works  of  kindness  and 
wisdom:  each  man  is  known  by  the  deeds  of  his  life.  I  would 
that  the  great  principles  of  justice,  kindness  and  a  reasonable 
charity  to  all,  might  be  universally  recognized,  taught  and 
practiced. 


102 


MAX'S  POWERS  AND  DUTIES. 
HUMAN    REASON   AND  JUDGMENT. 

Let  u>  not  forget  that  hv  iiuinan  reason  and  experience  we 
are  to  jndire  of  all  things  mental  and  phv>ieal  in  thi>  world. 
The.  senses  are  the  faithful  servants  of  man's  intellect,  but 
they  are  without  intelligence,  or  responsibility.  They  state  to 
the  mind  exactly  what  they  see,  hear,  taste  and  smell.  The 
senses  are  mere  tools  used  by  the  mind  to  obtain  information 
of  the  external  world.  The  mind  itself,  isolated  in  the  dark 
recesses  of  the  skull,  elaborates  and  works  up  the  information 
thus  received  and  stores  it  away  in  its  chambers  under  the 
name  of  knowledge  or  experience.  And  we  have  no  other 
standards  for  judgment  of  the  relative  value  of  the  knowledge 
we  possess  than  the  human  reason.  We  must  judge  by  human 
reason  of  our  relations  to  God  and  our  relations  to  man, 
as  well  as  of  all  matters  pertaining  to  physical  existence 
and  the  laws  of  nature.  And  when  a  theologian  presents 
to  us  for  our  sanction  and  credence  any  doctrine  or  article  of 
belief  which  violates  our  reason  and  common  sense,  we  must 
reject  such  as  an  insult  to  human  reason.  And  if  the  senti- 
ment or  affirmation  such  a  theologian  may  urge  is  also  deroga- 
tory to  the  character  of  God,  we  may  doubly  resent  it  as  an 
insult  to  the  dignity  of  both  God  and  man.  I  count  the  dogma 
of  an  eternal  hell  of  torment  a  striking  example  of  such  a 
double  insult  to  the  character  of  both  God  and  man.  All  such 
ideas  are  unfounded  in  experience  and  violate  every  dictate  of 
reason  and  justice.  Why  will  not  mankind  forever  cast  aside 

103 


MAN'S  POWERS  AND  DUTIES. 

the  pessimistic  and  unreasonable  idea  that  God  lias  attached 
such  conditions  to  His  gift  of  life  to  man  as  would  rob  it  of 
all  its  value  ! 

It  is  true  that  all  sects  are  softening  the  expression  of  old 
dogmas.  And  many  who  still  profess  them,  I  believe  have 
secretly  repudiated  them  for  the  most  part ;  for  as  Matthew 
Arnold  says  in  substance,  "  Insincerity  in  teaching  religious 
doctrines  is  the  crime  of  our  age." 

In  olden  times  Christians  felt  a  strong  and  fervent  faith 
in  the  dogmas  of  the  church.  The  Inquisition  is  a  witness  to 
the  intense  faith  of  many  Christians  of  an  earlier  age  in  a 
cruel  and  revengeful  Grod.  These  cruel  methods  of  enlarging 
the  Church,  and  punishing  those  who  will  not  join  it,  are  now 
softened  and  changed  by  reason  and  scientific  knowledge. 
The  enlightening  influences  of  advancing  civilization  have 
affected  even  the  bad  theologies;  until  the  vast  majority  of  the 
Church  have  in  a  measure  outgrown  the  superstitions  of  their 
forefathers. 

The  influences  which  lead  toward  the  recognition  of  the 
human  reason  as  the  supreme  judge  of  what  it  is  right  and 
wise  to  believe  and  to  do  are  increasing  every  day.  We 
have  newspapers  and  periodicals  devoted  to  "  establishing 
religion  upon  a  scientific  basis,"  and  taking  "  truth  for 
authority  and  not  authority  for  truth." 

That  the  intelligent  apprehension  of  religion  and  the 
growth  of  a  true  religion  may  become  universal,  we  must 
secure  for  all  human  kind,  children  as  well  as  adults,  perfect 
liberty  in  thinking. 

104 


MANS  POWERS  AND   IH'TIES. 


LIBERTY   IN  THINKING. 


What  greater  service  can  we  render  to  our  children  than  to 
teach  them  to  think,  to  think  for  themselves.  As  the  bird 
mother  teaches  her  fledgelings  to  use  their  wings,  to  hop,  and 
move  their  pinions  and  finally  to  soar,  so  in  regard  to  their 
minds  should  we  act  towards  onr  children.  While  we  honestly 
teach  them  the  truest  and  best  we  know  in  the  principles  of 
morality  and  religion,  yet  in  teaching  them  let  ns  leave  their 
minds  free.  Many  children  by  exercising  the  spiritual  forces 
within  them,  arrive  at  a  higher  point  of  intelligence  and  good- 
ness than  their  parents  ever  attained.  Indeed  there  is  naturally 
in  the  average  human  parent's  mind  and  heart  an  exciting 
hope  that  his  children  may  arrive  at  honorable  distinction  and 
position  in  the  world;  and  there  can  therefore  be  no  jealousy, 
no  opposition  to  children  becoming  happier  and  higher  every 
way  than  their  parents.  God  by  implanting  this  disinterested- 
ness in  the  minds  of  parents  has  willed  the  existence  of  a 
principle  in  the  parental  mind,  which  unwittingly  operates  in 
accordance  with  the  divine  principles  of  development  and 
evolution.  We  might  perhaps  safely  trust  this  natural  action 
in  parents  towards  their  children  were  it  not  for  the  hateful 
principles  and  influence  of  the  churches  with  fixed  creeds  of 

105 


MAN'S  POWERS  AND   DTTIKS 

belief,  requiring-  conformity  to  narrow  bigoted  views  on  tin-eats 
of  direful  consequences  in  this  world  and  in  the  world  which 
they  believe  is  to  come.  We  must  however  be  charitable 
towards  the  superstitious  sects,  darkened  in  their  minds,  for 
as  Christ  said  of  his  murderers,  "  They  know  not  what  they 
do." 

After  teaching  our  children  the  best  we  know,  we  must 
leave  them  as  they  develop  into  the  reflecting  and  reasoning 
period  of  life,  to  be. guided  by  the  divine  principles  of  freedom 
and  responsibility.  Let  us  reason  with  children  in  advocacy 
of  what  we  believe  is  best  and  true,  but  let  children  reflect 
and  reason  also,  let  them  examine  and  decide  in  accordance 
with  their  own  honest  convictions.  Since  new  light  and  truth 
in  regard  to  Grod  and  religion  are  being  constantly  evolved, 
may  we  all  keep  our  minds  receptive  to  new  light. 


106 


THE    LAW   OF    HUMAN   GROWTH. 


Some  great  Mind  above  the.  human  with  power  to  execute 
the  decisions  of  its  own  divine  will,  must  have  conceived  the 
great  principle  of  Involution,  or  constant  change  in  all  organ- 
ized existences  and  in  all  substance.  The  least  change  seems 
to  be  in  the  Ego  or  conscious  identity  of  mind,  for.  each  indi- 
vidual human  being  persistently  recognizes  himself  from  his 
first  dawnings  of  thought  through  a  long  life  of  changes  in 
his  weight,  and  form,  changes  in  views,  in  guiding  principles, 
in  politics,  in  religion;  and  it  is  a  notable  fact  that  no  man, 
woman  or  child  would  change  his  mental  constitution,  his  own 
identity,  for  that  of  another.  John  Smith  knows  himself 
intimately,  knows  his  own  hopes,  his  own  secret  thoughts 
which  nobody  else  knows,  his  own  enjoyments;  knows  what 
he  most  loves,  knows  his  own  Ego  is  his  own,  realizes  that  his 
own  existence  is  a  precious  unique  original,  unlike  any  other, 
given  by  God  himself,  for  his  own  special  enjoyment,  and  he 
would  not  swap  his  own  identity  for  that  of  any  other  man  or 
woman  in  existence.  John  Smith  would  like  a  change  of  con- 
ditions, and  he  is  constantly  striving  to  evolve  himself  into 
better  conditions.  In  this  sense  we  each  and  all  believe  in 
Evolution,  in  which  every  man  and  woman  plays  a  conspicuous 
part. 

107 


MAN'S   POWERS  AND  DUTIES. 

^k)  man  can  conceive  of  a  beginning  of  creation  in  nature: 
but  since  evolution  makes  a  continuous  change  of  form,  of 
mind,  and  conditions  in  ourselves  and  in  our  progeny,  is  not 
man,  and  are  not  all  other  beings  involved  in  the  process  of  a 
perpetual  creation?  There  certainly  exists  in  activity  on  this 
earth  a  law  of  change,  of  advancement,  of  evolution,  which 
implies  progress  in  man  toward  perfection;  in  animals  by 
instinct  toward  better  conditions  and  usefulness;  in  trees, 
toward  more  perfect  trees,  etc.  Since  mind  is  the  power  that 
moves  all  material  things,  all  evolutionary  changes  must  be 
effected  through  the  operations  and  activities  of  mind  in  every 
grade  of  existence.  l$ot  quite  satisfied  with  its  present  state, 
there  is  a  perpetual  effort  of  the  human  mind  to  exchange  its 
present  good  conditions  for  the  better,  and  an  exciting  hope 
and  aim  to  arrive  finally  at  the  best  conditions  in  life.  Through 
the  influences  of  the  human  mind  the  domestic  useful  races  of 
animals,  birds,  etc.,  are  improved.  By  the  exercise  of  human 
intelligence  also  are  wild  fruits,  shrubs  and  flowers  made  more 
beautiful  and  perfect.  The  kind  intent  of  a  Higher  Power  is 
visible  in  all  our  natural  relations  and  pursuits.  Useless  would 
be  the  nervous  activities  of  the  human  mind  if  no  objects 
were  furnished  upon  which  to  exercise  our  faculties.  It 
matters  not  from  how  humble  a  point  humanity  originated, 
since  we  did  not  originate  ourselves  we  have  no  responsibility 
in  this  mattter.  It  was  by  some  Divine  Power  we  came  into 
life.  If  through  a  monkey  race,  as  Darwin  supposes,  then 
with  pride  we  may  look  back  and  point  to  the  fact  that  from  a 
humble  beginning,  through  the  efforts  of  the  human  mind, 

108 


MAN'S    POWERS   AM)    DUTIES. 

\ve  have  evolved  ourselves  to  be  what  we  now  are.  Our  pro- 
gre>s  has  hern  made  gradually  in  time,  l)y  experience  laid 
away  in  the  indi\  idual  mind,  hy  its  j)o\ver  of  memory  and  the 
ahility  g.'ven  lo  every  age  to  draw  from  the  great  store-house 
of  traditional  and  historical  experiences  of  past  humanity. 

i/ 

l>ut  there  are  two  sides  to  the.  power  of  progress  or  evolu- 
tion. Let  us  not  forget  that  the  human  mind  is  constituted 
with  a  power  of  will  and  free  agency  which  is  its  own  to  ex- 
ercise. This  free  will  may  he  used,  and  is  used  as  a  retarda- 
tive  power,  in  the  processes  of  the  evolution  of  humanity. 
Human  free  will  is  limited  as  compared  with  a  higher  will- 
power outside,  but  is  never  interfered  with  so  far  as  it  goes, 
by  any  power  in  the  universe;  for  it  is  morally  impossible  it 
should  be,  by  any  just  Power  above  the  human,  exeept  by  the 
reformatory  bad  effects  or  consequences  attached  to  errors  and 
crimes,  and  the  good  eifects  attached  to  wTise  and  virtuous 
actions.  Evolution  does  not  escape  this  power  of  individual 
and  united  human  will,  which  is  often  wrongfully  used  to  set 
back  the  advance  of  knowledge  and  general  progress.  We  see 
this  retardative  power  in  bad  personal  habits,  in  rum  and 
tobacco,  in  wilful  perseverance  in  doing  wrong  when  we  have 
the  power  to  do  right,  in  organizing  and  sustaining  bad  gov- 
ernments and  bad  religions,  idealizing  gods  with  a  bad  char- 
acter, and  in  doing  generally  all  the  evil  that  human  free  will 
and  liberty  permit  us  to  accomplish  in  this  world.  Let  us 
organize,  however,  no  government,  no  religion,  in  which  the 
great  principle  of  progress  or  evolution  toward  the  better  is 
not  recognized;  and  we  want  no  evolution  in  which  the 

100 


MAN'S   POWERS  AND    DUTIES. 

retardive  power  of  human  will  and  free  agency  is  not  also 
recognized.  Are  not  all  inventions,  all  discoveries,  all  improve- 
ments in  the  arts,  all  governments,  all  organizations  moral  and 
religious,  in  short,  is  not  all  evolutionary  progress  toward  the 
good,  and  all  reactionary  tendency  toward  the  bad  in  human 
affairs,  made  through  the  activities  of  freedom  of  the  human 
mind  and  heart? 

The  power  which  changes  the  matter  composing  our  bodies 
is  a  power  wholly  outside  of  ourselves,  and  we  are  involuntarily 
subjected  to  its  action  as  we  are  to  the  law  of  the  circulation 
of  the  blood.  But  changes  in  our  viewrs  and  aims,  which  must 
always  precede  changes  in  our  actions,  appertain  to  our  mental 
power,  and  are  the  offspring  of  reason  and  choice.  All  social 
laws  by  which  man  seeks  to  exercise  the  collective  wisdom  of 
humanity  to  effect  more  rapid  growth  toward  better  conditions, 
appertain  especially  to  man's  power  to  create,  and  his  freedom 
to  change  human  conditions  in  accordance  with  his  own  will. 

The  human  mind  by  experience  and  reason  may  comprehend 
all  of  the  Divine  Will  which  it  is  necessary  for  man's  well 
being  that  he  should  know.  And  the  law  of  human  growth 
includes  in  its  action  man's  intelligent  effort  to  obey  that  Divine 
Will. 


no 


MAX'S    POWERS   AND   DUTIES. 


CONSCIENCE. 

Jt  is  through  the  exercise  of  tin-  will  that  \ve  progress  or 
retrograde  in  our  personal  morality.  There  is  another  power 
in  the  human  mind  above  even  this  great  executive  will:  for 
in  every  human  mind  God  lias  reserved  for  Himself  a  little 
field  of  influence  which  we  call  conscience.  Conscience  is  the 
ought  to  which  every  human  mind  assents.  Conscience  is  the 
embodiment  of  the  law  of  right  action.  Each  individual  con- 
science is  a  little  code  of  principles  made  up  for  personal 
reference. 

But  although  God  has  thus  given  us  a  sense  of  what  is 
right  and  wrong,  He  never  interferes  with  our  freedom  of 
decision  under  this  law.  God  permits  us  to  violate  our  con- 
sciences. He  permits  the  conscience  itself  to  be  modified  and 
affected  it  its  action  by  influences  of  education,  by  self-reflec- 
tion and  self-discipline,  by  the  influence  of  parents,  of  teachers, 
of  ministers,  of  all  whom  we  love  and  respect,  and  by  all  the 
varied  effects  of  the  social  organism  upon  the  individual  life. 

Man  finds  himself  constituted  with  personal  consciousness, 
and  judgment  born  of  experience  and  reflection,  which  give 
him  power  to  comprehend  what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong. 
He  is  also  permitted  to  experience  in  his  own  acts,  and  to 

111 


MAX'S   POWERS  AND   DUTIES. 

notice  in  the  acts  of  others,  the  good  e fleets  of  certain  series 
of  actions  and  the  bad  effects  of  certain  other  series  of 
actions.  This  may  convince  him  that  he  is  responsible  for 
evil  and  should  obey  the  law  of  right  in  his  conscience. 

There  are  heights  and  depths  in  the  laws  of  mind   which 
are  less  understood  than  in  the  laws  of  matter.    In  the  laws  of 
conscience  for  instance,  we  are  dependent  upon  education,  and 
education  depends  upon  circumstances  which  we  create.     In 
the    construction    of  conscience    in   many  cases,  reason,  the 
natural  guide,  is  not  permitted  to  govern,  or  rather  is  not 
developed  by   reflection   and   experience.      For  instance,  the 
young  thieves  attached  to  a  gang  of  robbers  are  taught  as  a 
matter  of  conscience,  to  steal  on  every  available  occasion,  and 
their  consciences  are  wounded  when  they  let  slip  an  occasion 
of  filching,  and  the  public  sentiment  of  the  gang  condemns 
them.     The  poor  Hindoo  widow  who  burns   herself  upon  the 
funeral  pile  of  her  husband  does  it  in  obedience  to  the  laws  of 
conscience  created  by  a  superstitious  public  sentiment.    It  may 
seem  to  be  a  hard  doctrine  to  declare,  that  in  every  case  to 
act  in  accordance  with  an  approving  conscience  carries  with  it 
the  smile  of  God  in  the  soul,  a  melancholy  smile  it  may  be  in 
the  case  of  the  young  thief  and  the  poor  sacrificed  widow,  but 
such  is  the  law  of  conscience  in  regard  to  sincerity,  and  it^is 
just  and  must  be  so.     God  cannot  with  justice  require  of  any 
human  being  to  act  contrary  to  the  best  he  knows;  the  same 
law  holds  good  with  the  intelligent  as  with  the  ignorant,  we 
should  act  all  of  us  honestly  and  sincerely  in  accordance  with 
the  best  we  know.     So  our  Puritan  fathers  in  persecuting  and 

112 


MAX'S  PO\\T:RS  AND  DUTIES. 

hanging  the  poor  Quakers  did  the  />'->•/  they  knew.  Hence  it 
is  of  vital  importance  that  we  develop  the  spirit  of  intelligence 
and  freedom  in  our  plans  of  education,  in  our  moral  and  re- 
ligious principles.  Lei  us  never  forget  that  we  are  free,  and 
that  an  inevitable  responsibility  accompanies  soul  freedom, 
and  we  are  guilty  if  we  do  not  search  diligently  to  find  the 
truth  in  all  questions  of  Religion  and  Morality.  The  guilty 
are  those  who  do  not  teach  the  best  they  know,  who  do  not 
give  us  their  honest  true  thought,  be  they  parents  or  moral 
and  religious  teachers.  To  the  insincere  there  can  be  no  sell- 
respect,  no  approbation  of  divine  Power  can  be  reali/ed  in 
their  consciences.  There  are  situations  in  which  it  is  very  hard 
to  obey  one's  conscience.  For  instance,  here  is  a  minister, 
who  when  fresh  from  the  teachings  of  his  Christian  parents 
and  his  Orthodox  or  conservative  Unitarian  ministers,  passed 
through  the  divinity  school,  accepted  and  honestly  believed  in 
the  truth  of  the  Orthodox  or  Unitarian  creed  as  the  case  might 
be.  This  for  years  he  had  sincerely  taught  to  his  confiding 
congregation  as  truth.  But  by  reflection,  by  studying  the 
arguments  of  honest  Deists  and  unbelievers,  perhaps  with 
the  honest  intent  to  persuade  and  reform  them  into  his  own 
Christian  fold,  he  finds  new  light  breaking  into  his  mind, 
his  own  reason  has  forced  him  to  change  his  views,  he  has  new 
convictions,  stronger  and  better  founded  than  his  old  adopted 
beliefs,  because  they  are  legitimately  built  up  by  study,  reflec- 
tion and  the  honest  exercise  of  his  own  reason.  What  is  to  be 
done?  shall  he  continue  to  preach  what  he  now  believes  to  be 
a  lie,  and  thus  sacrifice  his  conscience?  lie  feels  that  when 

113 


MAN'S    POWERS   AND  DUTIES. 

lie  tau gilt  error,  when  he  maligned  and  vilified  God  by  his 
honest  misrepresentations  of  his  character,  yet  as  God  loves 
sincerity  and  good  intentions.  His  smile  was  not  withheld  from 
his  conscience;  but  if  he  continues  to  preach  what  he  himself 
believes  to  be  false,  the  smile  of  his  God  will  be  changed  into  a 
frown  of  disapproval.  And  if  his  insincerity  is  discovered  bv 
the  world  he  Avill  be  despised  as  a  hypocrite;  all  sincere 
believers  in  erroneous  views  will  regard  him,  if  he  is  detected, 
with  the  same  feelings,  in  which  he  himself  must  partake. 
The  true  and  noble  thing  for  this  Christian  gentleman  to  do, 
is  to  remain  honest  to  his  new  convictions  of  truth  and  duty, 
and  to  frankly  avow  his  change  of  belief,  and  come  life  or 
come  death,  come  what  will,  he  should  express  his  determina- 
tion to  remain  honest  and  true  before  God  and  man.  If  a  part 
of,  or  the  entire  congregation  to  whom  he  has  preached,  turns 
against  him,  he  will  feel  conscious  of  his  own  sincerity  and 
that  he  has  God  on  his  side,  whose  presence  will  be  immanent 
in  his  mind  and  heart. 

One  indeed  may  be  sincere  in  the  belief  and  teaching  of  a 
hurtful  error;  and  there  may  be  a  measure  of  innocency  in 
the  commission  of  wrong  actions  which  results  from  the  want 
of  knowledge.  But  there  is  no  innocency  in  ignorance  when  we 
have  it  in  our  power  to  acquire  knowledge,  and  carelessness  is 
never  excusable.  It  is  certainly  the  worst  phase  of  commission 
of  wrong  when  there  is  malice  of  intent  to  commit  crime.  But 
inasmuch  as  man  is  given  intelligence,  an  intuitive  sense  of 
justice  or  the  law  of  right  in  conscience,  his  memory  of 
experience  of  good  and  bad  effects  of  actions,  and  his  obser- 

114 


MAX'S    PO\\  KRS   AND   DUTIES. 

ration  of  the  experience  of  mankind  in  general,  he  has  a  great 
obligation  laid  upon  him  to  both  know  and  do  the  right. 

A  man's  crimes  against  his  brother  man  are  punished  by 
human  laws  professedly  based  upon  justice  and  right.  And 
since-  in  the  present  imperfect  state  of  human  development 
human  laws  do  not  always  mete  our  justice.  God  sees  to  it 
that  in  proportion  to  the  heinousness  of  one's  crime  shall  he 
suffer  condemnation  from  his  own  conscience.  This  inner 
court  of  justice  in  the  human  mind  makes  no  mistakes,  and 
is  always  in  session!  Xo  human  culprit  can  impugn  the  jus- 
tice of  its  decisions,  for  he  is  allowed  to  be  his  own  advocate, 
and  bv  the  aid  of  memory  manage  his  own  case  before  its 

•j  «/ 

inexorable  bar!  He  may  freely  urge  every  mitigating  circum- 
stance of  good  intent  or  of  unintentional  error.  He  may  more 
truthfully  than  any  other  fix  the  shading  of  his  guilt  in  pro- 
portion to  the  real  turpitude  of  his  wrong  doing.  But  there 
can  be  no  appeal  from  the  sentence  which  this  inner  court  of 
conscience  finally  pronounces.  The  lighter  shades  of  error 
may  be  nearly  effaced  from  memory  by  tears  of  repentance, 
but  the  dark  stains  of  wilful  crime  death  only  can  efface. 

On  the  other  hand  the  approval  of  an  enlightened  con- 
science is  the  approval  of  God  Himself  manifested  in  the 
human  consciousness.  But  an  enlightened  conscience  im- 
plies the  co-operation  of  a  sincere  good  heart  or  purpose, 
and  an  honest  intelligent  head  or  judgment.  And  to  secure 
an  enlightened  conscience  we  must  have  an  education  in 
truth  and  right,  beginning  with  good  and  intelligent  parents, 
and  continued  by  wider  social  influence  for  every  individual. 

115 


MAN'S   POWERS  AND  DUTIES. 

Every  man  and  woman  should  be  launched  at  mature  years 
upon  society  furnished  with  a  code  of  the  purest  moral  and 
religious  principles  to  guide  his  or  her  action  in  all  the  varied 
relations  with  society  which  life  may  develop. 

Let  us  each  and  all  cultivate  in  ourselves  and  in  our  chil- 
dren acquaintance  with  the  God  within  us,  the  conscience 
which  frowns  or  smiles  upon  us  as  we  do  wrong  or  right! 
The  measure  of  our  intimacy  with  God,  the  character  of  the 
principles  which  guide  us,  are  shown  by  our  daily  life.  If 
reason  and  love  rule  us,  it  will  be  revealed  by  acts  of  kindness, 
respect  and  consideration  toward  our  fellowmen.  Let  us  all 
live  near  to  God,  the  fountain  of  all  the  varied  good  in  the 
world,  and  our  best  friend. 


116 


MAX'S    1'OWHRS   AM)    DUTIES. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  A  NOBLE  CHARACTER. 


If  we  could  fashion  a  model  or  type  of  human  character 
for  the  human  race  to  imitate,  would  it  not  be  a  faint  reflection 
of  the  character  of  the  Power  which  exists  above  the  human, 
with  which  every  living  thing-  upon  this  earth  has  relations? 

Many  think  they  have  this  type  of  perfect  character  in 
Jesus  Christ.  And  some  even  believe  him  to  be  not  only  a 
perfect  man,  but  God  Himself,  or  One  of  the  Trinity  of  Father, 
Son  and  Holy  Ghost.  As  an  honest  examiner  and  searcher 
after  truth,  I  would  suggest  that  if  it  is  desirable  to  have  a 
model  for  human  imitation  it  is  necessary  that  such  model  be 
a  type  of  perfection  in  all  relations  of  life  and  for  all  the  ages 
of  man's  existence.  And  it  seems  to  me,  with  all  due  deference 
to  the  contrary  opinions  of  good  and  learned  divines,  that 
Christ  was  not  perfect,  and  cannot  serve  mankind  as  a  univer- 
sal model  for  all  conditions  and  for  all  time.  He  did  not  fill 
out  the  measure  of  a  man's  days  and  was  not  placed  in  the 
various  relations  in  which  we  are  naturally  placed  in  passing 
through  life;  he  was  not  a  married  man,  consequently  he 
could  not  be  a  model  for  all  husbands ;  he  was  not  a  father, 
so  that  in  the  paternal  relation  he  could  not  serve  us  as  a 
model. 

117 


MAN'S   POWERS  AND   DUTIES. 

I  believe  that  we  find  the  law  of  human  conduct  in  the 
revelation  of  the  will  of  God  as  made  in  the  laws  which  govern 
man's  nature.  It  is  becoming  almost  universally  accepted  as 
a  fundamental  truth,  that  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  moral 
nature  constitutes  virtue,  and  confers  the  happiness  which 
alone  follows  upon  virtue.  In  other  words,  God  has  so  con- 
stituted man  that  the  performance  of  his  highest  duties,  when 
actuated  by  the  highest  principles  of  his  nature,  secures  to  him 
the  greatest  amount  of  happiness  possible  to  him  in  this  world. 
To  be  virtuous  from  hour  to  hour  and  from  year  to  year,  is 
like  receiving  from  Divine  power  and  generosity  a  liberal 
salary  paid  constantly  as  we  present  our  drafts  upon  the  Bank 
of  human  happiness  established  by  our  Divine  Father.  We 
need  spend  no  time  in  searching  for  the  principal  Bank,  or 
headquarters  of  this  divine  institution  for  the  diffusion  of 
human  happiness ;  for  a  branch  establishment  is  set  up  in  the 
conscience  of  each  person,  and  all  the  claims  to  which  we  are 
entitled  by  virtuous  conduct  are  at  once  cashed  without  dis- 
count. A  good  and  virtuous  human  being  never  enquires  "Is 
life  worth  living?"  He  lives  happily  from  day  to  day.  And 
when  his  hour  of  death  arrives,  he  does  not  insist  upon  life 
eternal  in  a  conscious  happy  state,  or  profess  his  belief  in  such 
immortality  without  due  evidence;  but  with  a  grateful  heart  he 
thanks  God  that  he  has  been  permitted  to  exist  at  all;  and 
with  a  genuine  faith  and  confidence  in  the  wisdom  and  love  of 
his  Creator  he  leaves  the  question  of  his  immortality  or  annihi- 
lation to  His  wise  and  kind  decision,  willing  that  human  will 
should  be  merged  in  Divine  Will. 

118 


MAN'S    I'OWERS   AND    Dl'TIES. 

A  irood  and  intelligent  man  is  sincere,  kind  and  charitable 
toward  his  fellows:  not  for  the  sake  of  anv  return  from  man, 
but  because  he  feels  he  ought  so  to  act,  and  because  God  has 
so  constituted  him  that  his  own  highest  happiness  and  dignity 
are  subserved  by  cultivating  these  virtuous  actions. 

We  have  the  power  to  do  good  in  the  world,  or  to  work 
evil.  Shall  we  not  make  ourselves  coadjutors  with  God.  to 
work  with  Him  to  make  ourselves  and  others  good  and  noble, 
since  lie  permits  us  so  to  carry  out  his  kind  intents;'  While 
God  through  and  by  His  laws  sustains  all  things,  man  is  spec- 
ially endowed  with  freedom  and  power  to  progress,  to  improve, 
to  perfect,  or  to  retard,  corrupt  and  destroy.  By  obedience  to 
the  laws  of  God  as  shown  in  nature,  and  in  natural  human 
relations,  we  may  co-operate  with  our  Divine  Father  in  doing 
good. 

And  if  to  make  two  blades  of  grass  grow  where  only  one 
has  grown  before  is  commendable,  how  much  more  so  it  is  to 
discover  and  to  exemplify  and  teach  a  virtue  lost  sight  of  or 
before  unknown!  Equally  commendable  is  it  to  brighten  up 
old  and  accepted  virtues,  and  to  place  them  in  a  better  light, 
that  they  may  appear  more  attractive. 

That  we  may  do  this  we  should  start  from  the  central  point 
of  our  advent  into  existence,  and  outline  and  consider  our 
duties  in  these  nearest  relations  of  life;  then  justice  and  a  fra- 
ternal feeling  should  be  cultivated  in  an  ever  widening  circle 
until  we  realize  that  all  mankind  are  brothers,  and  we  should 
be  just  and  kind  to  all  men  everywhere.  Each  human  being 
•counts  one,  and  we  must  be  just  toward  ourselves  as  towards 

119 


MAN'S   POWERS   AND   DUTIES. 

others;  although  sometimes  in  our  varied  relations  with  each 
other,  the  demand  for  justice  toward  ourselves  must  give  way 
before  the  claims  of  some  social  duty.  Yet  should  all  senti- 
ments of  charity  and  generosity  be  under  the  control  of  a 
cultivated  reason  and  balanced  judgment. 

Man  in  common  with  all  other  organized  creatures  on  this 
earth  is  full  of  activities.  Man  cannot  escape  mental  and 
physical  desires  and  needs  which  shape  these  activities  in  differ- 
ing ways.  And  the  law  of  the  correlation  of  forces  is  exem- 
plified in  the  activities  of  every  individual  man.  So  also  is  the 
wisdom  of  the  old  saying  "You  can't  have  everything/'  People 
cannot  be  distinguished  equally  for  opposite  qualities  or  virtues. 
For  instance  one  cannot  at  the  same  time  exemplify  the  virtues 
and  powers  of  the  rashly  generous,  and  of  the  saving  and 
economical  man.  Character  in  its  development  forces  all  our 
activities  and  powers  into  harmony  with  the  guiding  principles 
of  our  nature.  How  wisely  diversified  are  human  ambitions 
and  aims  ! 

"  Noblesse  oblige  "  is  the  motto  of  the  noble  who  in  a  con- 
spicuous position  of  power  and  dignity  feels  that  he  must  act 
in  harmony  with  the  grandeur  of  his  opportunity.  True  nobility 
obliges  any  man  set  apart  as  richer,  more  intelligent,  or  more 
powerful  in  any  way  than  his  fellows,  to  act  justly  and  kindly 
toward  all  other  men.  On  the  other  hand  no  one  can  say  that 
a  humble  life  is  not  a  noble  life;  it  is  merely  a  life  whose 
nobleness  has  not  been  revealed  by  publicity.  And  no  one  can 
tell  what  undeveloped  powers  may  be  in  the  humblest  man 
until  some  great  crisis  of  personal  or  public  experience  trie& 

120 


MAX'S  I'()\VI-:KS  AND  or  TIES. 

We  are  born  so  lo  speak  of  a  chemical  combination  of 
parental  powers.  Hence  for  our  natural  talents  we  are  indebted 
to  our  parents.  How  important  then  it  is  for  the  children  that 
their  parents  should  make  careful,  intelligent  choice  of  com- 
panions for  life.  How  important  that  there  should  be  harmony 
or  fitness  of  character  between  the  parents;  and  also  such 
differentiation  as  shall  result  in  a  mental  power  and  harmony 
in  the  child  which  did  not  fully  exist  in  either  parent!  Above 
all  there  should  be  a  principle  of  love  and  forbearance  showing 
wisdom  and  goodness  in  both  parents,  to  insure  the  best 
results  in  the  children's  characters.  The  children  of  such 
parents  will  rejoice  in  them,  loving  and  respecting  them  all 
their  clays. 


121 


MANS   POWKKS    AND    DUTIES. 


JUSTICE. 

To  make  up  a  fulness  of  character  satisfying  to  ourselves 
we  must  keep  alive  in  our  minds  the  sense  of  justice  to  all 
mankind  and  to  every  living  creature  with  whom  we  have 
relations.  We  should  endeavor  to  imitate  the  disinterested 
kindness  of  our  divine  Father  toward  all  human  beings  with 
whom  we  have  relations:  and  toward  all  animals  beneath  us 
whom  God  has  thus  especially  confided  to  our  care.  And  in 
respect  to  kindness  toward  human  beings ;  our  wives,  and  our 
children,  our  parents,  our  brothers  and  sisters,  and  the  nearest 
of  kin  to  whom  we  are  naturally  bound  by  ties  of  affection, 
should  stand  first.  If  our  means  permit  us  to  be  charitable  to 
any  beyond  this  inner  circle,  if  we  have  abundant  means,  we 
should  embrace  in  our  objects  of  charity  the  poor  of  the 
town  and  of  the  State  in  which  we  live.  If  we  may  increase 
still  further  our  benefactions,  our  country  as  a  whole  stands 
nearer  to  us  than  any  foreign  country.  In  a  sense  our  country 
stands  to  us,  in  remoter  degree,  in  the  same  relation  as  that  of 
our  family.  And  the  writer,  acting  upon  this  idea  has  always 
favored  our  own  manufacturers  by  voting  against  the  free 
introduction  of  goods  made  by  the  pauper  labor  of  Europe. 
Believing  that  we  should  help  ourselves  first  and  keep  our 

122 


MAX'S  POWERS    AND   DUTIES. 

money  in  the  United  States.  Reason  and  justice  should  guide 
us  in  all  that  we  do  whether  aciing  as  individuals  or  through 
governmental  organizations. 

Let  it  be  the  task  of  every  religious  organization,  of  every 
good  man,  to  eliminate  as  last  as  possible  all  the  evil  and 
injustice  of  the  world  from  government  and  from  society. 

The  highest  and  noblest  motive  that  can  actuate  a  man  in 
unselfish  efforts  to  make  his  fellow  creatures  happy,  is  simply 
that  he  ought  to  do  so.  And  he  ought  to  do  so  because  the 
highest  motive  in  life  is  to  imitate  the  Divine  Being  in  benefi- 
cence. Man  so  far  from  being  naturally  depraved  is  endowed 
with  the  power  of  thus  imitating  the  Divine  Father  of  all, 
and  will  do  so  when  rightly  developed  in  head  and  heart. 

A  man  should  be   honest  from  a   sense   of  duty,  justice 

urging  him  to   do  what  is   right  towards  others.     His   own 

i 

respect  and  dignity  demand  this  of  himself.  And  he  has  a 
right  to  expect  equal  justice  toward  himself  from  all  those 
with  whom  he  has  relation.  If  in  our  estimation  of  any  man 
we  have  entertained  views  of  his  character  derogatory  to  him, 
which  upon  further  knowledge  we  find  to  be  erroneous,  honor 
and  justice  compel  us  to  openly  and  at  once  acknowledge  our 
mistake  in  thus  misjudging;  and  to  recognize  thereafter  the 
better  nature  of  him  whom  we  before  under-estimated.  This 
principle  of  justice  and  honor  should  be  held  sacred  by  the 
intelligent  of  every  community,  in  our  social  circles,  as  well  as 
in  our  courts  of  justice. 


123 


MAX'S   POWERS   AXD   Dl'TIKS. 


TRUTH. 

A  fact  truly  described,  carefully  defined  with  all  its  con- 
ditions, as  it  is  the  aim  of  a  man  of  science  to  do,  gives  us  a 
truth. 

Truth  is  deduced  by  the  human  mind  from  the  facts  of  life 
and  experience,  through  study  and  reflection.  The  acquisitions 
of  the  individual  mind  can  thus  by  the  aid  of  philosophy  be 
poured  into  the  common  reservoirs  of  human  knowledge.  And 
it  is  a  wise  and  beautiful  provision  of  human  nature  that  to 
impart  knowledge  gives  to  the  imparting  mind  a  peculiar 
Intellectual  pleasure.  To  work  out  through  the  laboratory  of 
the  human  mind  a  single  truth,  a  single  principle,  not  before 
discovered  or  fully  appreciated  by  the  world,  raises  the  indi- 
vidual in  his  own  estimation,  and  gives  him  great  happiness. 
Whether  this  be  a  physical,  moral  or  religious  truth,  it  is  all 
the  same  in  its  effect  upon  him  who  has  deduced  it:  his  satis- 
faction is  measured  only  by  the  importance  to  the  well  being 
of  humanity  of  the  idea  or  principle  he  has  contributed  to  the 
common  mind.  But  let  us  not  forget  that  the  intelligent  good 
man  who  works  for  the  advancement  of  truth  represents  a 
Higher  Power  who  is  the  source  of  all  truth. 

Truth  should  be  shared  freely.  It  should  be  held  in  com- 
mon like  the  atmosphere.  It  should  be  as  cheap  as  a  glass  of 

124 


MAX'S    POWERS    AND    Dl'TIKS. 

water  and  given  a^  readily  and  as  courteously.  Especially 
should  all  who  are  professional  teachers  and  ministers  give  all 
the  truth  in  their  possession  with  the  utmost  sincerity.  Tl'  in 
our  day  such  teachers  ami  ministers  do  not  perceive  all  of 
truth,  many  do  more  or  less  clearly  see  the  errors  and  falsities 
of  the  religions  system  in  which  most  of  us  have  been  educa- 
ted. Our  convictions  should  be  built  up  by  honest  and  pro- 
found reflection  on  known  experiences.  And  to  arrive  at 
legitimate  convictions  of  religious  and  moral  truths,  the  human 
mind  must  be  guided  by  reason  through  the  portals  of  doubt. 
It  must  sift  and  winnow  the  chatty  piles  of  ignorance  and 
error  which  have  accumulated  through  the  past  ages.  Doing 
this  earnestly  and  faithfully,  even  the  ordinary  mind  will  be 
rewarded  with  some  valuable  findings.  Truth  is  coy  and  must 
be  searched  for  as  the  diamond  is  sought  by  the  patient  miner. 
And  when  it  is  found  and  polished,  this  jewel  of  truth  should 
not  be  confined  to  the  private  casket  of  one's  own  mind.  It 
should  be  brought  forth  into  the  light  where  it  may  sparkle 
and  shine  for  the  satisfaction  and  benefit  of  all  mankind! 

Great  truths  are  important  for  the  well  being  of  man,  and 
great  errors  work  evil  to  mankind.  Since  truth  and  error  thus 
greatly  influence  human  action  for  good  or  for  evil,  let  us  all 
endeavor  to  enlarge  the  object-glasses  of  our  minds  that  we 
may  more  clearly  perceive  the  use  and  beauty  of  truth,  and  the 
harmfulness  and  ugliness  of  error. 


126 


MAN'S    POWERS   AND  DUTIES. 


FAITH. 

Faith, —  Belief, —  Convictions.  Faith  and  belief  should 
harmonize  with  convictions  built  upon  reflection  from  known 
experiences.  There  is  thus  a  difference  in  my  mind  between 
beliefs  and  convictions.  Since  there  is  so  much  ignorance  yet 
in  the  world,  doubt  is  for  the  mature  mind  a  virtue.  For  doubt 
may  be  a  forerunner  of  a  greater  intelligence.  Doubt  of 
received  beliefs  spurs  to  examination,  and  true  convictions 
must  be  built  up  step  by  step  in  our  minds  by  individual  reason. 
And  when  convictions  are  thus  carefully  formed  they  are  likely 
to  be  permanent. 

The  idea  that  one  must  have  faith  in  any  system  of  religion 
or  code  of  morals  which  violates  reason  and  common  sense,  is 
a  libel  upon  the  dignity  of  man  and  the  beneficence  of  God ! 

In  this  as  in  all  other  departments  of  human  activity  we 
should  carefully  study,  each  one  for  himself,  the  great  underly- 
ing principles  of  education,  of  sociology,  of  government,  and 
of  all  scientific  truth.  The  prevailing  tone  of  intelligent  minds 
in  our  day  tends  towards  "  liberalism,"  or  a  breaking  away 
from  the  old-time  faith  of  the  churches.  But  as  yet  no  new 
system  of  faith  has  been  crystallized  from  this  tendency.  The 
underlying  truth  of  all -religions  has  not  yet  been  spoken. 

126 


MAN'S   POWERS  AND  DUTIES. 

Individuals  are  therefore  especially  justified  in  presenting  each 
his  own  view  of  our  relations  to  God  and  to  our  fellow  men, 
as  T  am  now  seeking  to  do. 

Faith  is  an  important  element  in  the  system  of  Religion 
advocated  by  this  writer.  A  knowledge  of  the  real  character 
of  (rod  as  shown  in  all  his  relations  with  man  inspires  a  living* 
faith,  the  most  perfect,  that  God  is  wise  and  good,  and  the  best 
friend,  and  in  a  sense  the  otdy  friend  each  and  all  of  us  possess, 
since  he  is  behind  our  life,  our  parents,  near  and  dear  relatives, 
all  our  friends,  and  pleasant  acquaintances,  ^one  of  these 
blessings  are  of  man's  invention;  all  these  precious  gifts  were 
conceived  and  made  possible  to  us  by  a  high  Power  existing 
before  the  advent  of  man  upon  this  planet.  Our  nearest  and 
dearest  objects  of  love  and  esteem  act  only  as  agents  of  our 
Divine  Father.  We  all  should  have  perfect  faith  and  reliance 
in  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God.  On  the  panel  of  a  door 
in  the  Bell  St.  Chapel,  tha't  the  writer  has  erected  in  his 
native  city,  is  the  following  Sentiment  "Fear  not  Death!  the 
same  wise  and  beneficent  Power  that  gave  you  Life,  pre- 
sides equally  at  your  Death  !  Trust  in  God !  "  Now  since  the 
gift  of  Life  has  been  attended  with  so  much  happiness,  it  is 
not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  Death  coming  from  the  same 
wise  and  beneficent  hand  will  be  a  great  misfortune.  We 
ought  to  have  faith  and  trust  in  our  Divine  Father,  that  if 
after  having  enjoyed  the  beautiful  drama  of  life  the  curtain 
should  fall  and  unconsciousness  should  be  our  lot,  then  uncon- 
sciousness will  be  the  best  for  us;  for  we  must  have  faith  to 
believe  that  God  in  His  Providence  cannot  act  contrary  to  the 

m 


MAX'S   POWERS  AND  DUTIKS. 

harmony  of  His  own  character.  In  any  event  the  Race  of 
Man  is  immortal,  and  wlietlicr  our  hopes  of  individual  con- 
seionsness  after  death  arc  well  founded  or  not,  we  are  per- 
mitted to  cherish  to  our  latest  moment  such  hopes  as  give  us 
the  greatest  pleasure  to  exercise.  Faith  means  reliance  and 
confidence;  it  is  early  developed  in  childhood  and  even  in 
babyhood,  and  is  constantly  exercised  through  life  on  something 
worthy  or  unworthy.  Faith  may  be  founded  on  experience, 
or  it  may  be  established  by  reliance  and  confidence  in  the 
views  and  beliefs  of  our  parents,  and  the  teachings  of  our 
ministers.  The  confidence,  reliance  and  faith  of  the  child  are 
early  developed  and  intuitively  placed  upon  its  mother.  And  a 
man  or  woman  through  his  own  consciousness  of  his  own 
honesty,  of  his  own  sincere  endeavor  to  do  right,  has  faith  in 
human  goodness.  Faith  and  confidence  he  must  have;  he 
cannot  live  without  them. 


128 


MAX'S    POWERS   AND    Dl'TIES. 


HOPE. 

\Vhat  is  Hope?  It  is  a  divine  spur  given  to  the  human 
mind  to  enable  it  to  achieve  the  ends  and  aims  of  its  natural 
activity.  Hope  is  a  servant  of  all  work,  it  will  aid  in  the 
accomplishment  of  any  enterprise  good  or  bad.  It  is  like  a 
cheering-  cordial,  it  will  give  strength  for  any  work  the  mind 
directs.  In  all  good  work  it  may  be  likened  to  God's  smile  of 
encouragement. 

In  this  life  as  soon  as  a  dear  babe  appears  all  is  future  in 
the  parents  thought.  Hope  at  once  paints  for  these  loving 
parents  a  bright  future  for  the  child.  And  the  child  very  soon 
begins  to  hope  for  his  own  future.  Hope  is  thus  the  cheerful 
optimistic  companion  of  our  future  life.  The  past  .is  dead,  and 
cannot  be  lived  over  again.  But  the  future  already  lives  in  us 
through  Hope.  How  precious  is  this  Hope,  to  the  poor  and 
miserable  perhaps  more  so  than  to  the  rich  and  happy. 

Hope  is  a  brilliant  beautiful  gift  from  God  our  Divine 
Father !  Hope  shines  within  us  by  its  own  light  like  a  divine 
smile  of  encouragement  when  all  without  seems  dark  and 
gloomy.  Hope  is  the  sister  of  .Faith  and  Confidence,  and  the 
parent  of  cheerfulness  and  content  of  mind.  But  there  are 
other  monitorial  qualities  of  the  human  mind  to  which  Hope 
itself  should  defer.  Hope  like  a  gay  volatile  child  must  be 

129 


MAN'S  POWERS  AND  Dl'TIKS. 

kept  in  hand  by  reason  and  the  knowledge  gained  from  experi- 
ence, or  she  will  come  to  grief  in  her  capricious  wanderings. 
For  it  is  well  known  to  us  all  that  nothing  is  so  uncertain  of 
fruition  as  human  hopes. 

Parents  hope  that  their  children  may  grow  up  strong  and 
healthy  and  that  they  may  be  good  and  prosperous.  They  de- 
sire that  their  children  may  be  just  and  kind  to  others  and  be 
treated  by  all  who  are  related  to  them  with  justice  and  kind- 
ness. And  the  sentiment  of  protecting  love  which  accom- 
panies this  hope  in  the  minds  of  the  parents  leads  them  to 
seek  the  fruition  of  these  hopes  by  all  unselfish  devotion  to 
the  well  being  of  their  children.  Good  parents  seek  to  make 
their  children  happy  by  education,  by  moral  and  religious  in- 
struction, by  giving  them  the  best  which  they  themselves  know. 

How  base  it  is  to  excite  groundless  hopes  or  fears  in  the 
minds  of  any,  especially  children!  And  ministers  should  look 
well  to  the  grounds  justifying  their  excitements  of  hopes  and 
fears  respecting  a  future  life  beyond  this  world. 


180 


MAX'S   POWERS   AXU    DUTIES. 


HUMOR. 

Humor  is  the  funny  little  sister  of  Cheerfulness,  and  the 
first  cousin  to  Hope;  and  the  three  are  often  found  in  company. 

We  mortals  exercise  Humor  when  things  go  rightly,  and 
especially  when  we  find  imperfections  and  errors  in  others 
which  we  felicitate  ourselves  we  do  not  show.  There  is  a 
little  spice  of  superiority  felt  when  we  laugh  at  the  antics  of  a 
cat  or  a  monkey,  the  frolics  of  a  lamb,  or  the  odd  movements 
of  a  calf  or  a  cow.  And  we  may  feel  with  this  a  benevolent 
satisfaction  at  the  pleasure  and  happiness  the  lower  animals 
feel  as  indicated  by  their  funny  movements.  The  pith  of  all 
humor  as  it  relates  to  our  fellow-men  lies  in  our  observation 
of  their  little  errors  and  oddities.  These  seem  to  us  fine  set- 
tings to  show  off  our  own  superior  intelligence  or  information ! 
Satire  and  ridicule  often  become  criminal  excesses  of  the 
divine  gift  of  humor. 

Nobody  likes  to  be  laughed  at.  And  although  the  inno- 
cent, well-meaning,  good-natured,  moderate  exercise  of  the 
faculty  of  humor,  directed  toward  human  weakness  and  oddi- 
ties, indicates  a  higher  intelligence  and  has  a  reforming  ten- 
dency, it  becomes  vicious  and  ugly  when  heartless  and  scoffing. 
Such  ridicule  as  some  unbelievers  manifest  toward  the  honest 
beliefs  of  sincere  Christians  is  of  that  unkind  nature. 

131 


MAX'S   POWERS   AM)    IH'TII-LS. 


CHARITY. 

God  never  aids  any  man  except  through  his  own  exertions. 
Therefore  we  should  not  help  those  who  can  help  themselves; 
for  if  we  did  so  we  should  contravene  God's  law  of  self-reli- 
ance in  the  development  of  character.  Individual  industry  and 
economy  bring  honest  accumulations.  We  may  often  injure 
rather  than  benefit  ill-chosen  objects  of  charity.  I  think  our 
rule  should  be  to  consider  our  natural  relations  with  our  fellow- 
beings  in  exercising  charity.  First  help  our  parents  when  help 
is  needed.  Next  to  God  each  man  should  devote  himself  to 
his  Mother,  whose  constant  and  disinterested  love  he  can  never 
requite. 

Next,  a  man  should  be  a  blessing  to  his  father,  sisters, 
brothers,  aunts  and  poor  nieces :  uncles  and  nephews  should 
take  care  of  themselves.  Then  come  friends  and  neighbors; 
help  these  in  charity  after  much  reflection.  As  a  rule  of  life 
never  endorse  the  notes  of  anybody.  There  are  occasionally 
cases  where  it  is  well  to  loan  small  sums  to  help  into  business 
deserving  young  men.  But  such  loans  should  be  based  strictly 
upon  the  capability  and  the  character  of  the  person  to  be 
assisted;  and  we  must  remember  that  as  a  rule  the  men  who 

132 


MAX'S    POWERS   AM)    DUTIES. 

succeed,  best  in  business  are  those  who  begin  unassisted  on 
their  own  peanut  Mauds,  and  witli  honesty,  capacity,  polite- 
ness, economy  and  a  good  personal  character  build  up  their 
own  fortunes. 

Are  there  those  who  have  a  just  claim  upon  full  charity 
from  tho>e  who  have  a  sufficiency  of  means?  Certainly:  there 
are  young-  children,  there  are  the  insane,  the  sick,  the  widows 
and  orphans  and  all  who  are  unabk'  to  work  for  their  own 
support.  These  must  be  helped  by  others  through  the  pit}7 
and  kindness  which  God  has  implanted  in  the  human  heart.  Do 
unto  others  as  you  would  have  others  do  unto  you  in  like  cir- 
cumstances is  a  God-like  command.  Charity  is  a  quality  more 
noble  even  than  justice;  and  its  exercise  is  not  only  a  duty,  it 
is  a  high  privilege.  But  charity  requires  for  its  exercise  not 
only  a  feeling  heart,  but  wisdom  and  discrimination,  and  few 
are  really  competent  for  the  work. 

There  is  a  class  of  lazy  communists  who  think  it  would  be 
just  for  the  industrious  people  to  share  with  them  their  hard- 
earned  savings.  '  By  what  right,'  these  ask,  '  can  any  man 
accumulate  the  wealth  which  poor  people  need?'  'By  what 
principle  of  justice,'  demands  the  communist,  '  does  any  man 
exact  interest  for  the  money  which  he  ought  to  lend  to  any  one 
who  needs  it?' 

I  would  ask  in  reply ;  '  why  should  we  help  others  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  universal  law  of  self-reliance?  Does  the  true 
principle  of  charity  demand  of  us  material  sacrifices  for  the 
support  of  others  able  to  help  themselves,  when  we  have 
earned  our  living  by  our  own  exertions  and  self-sacrifice? 

133 


MAN'S  POWERS   AND   DUTIES. 

What  claim  have  others  upon  the  fruits  of  labors  they  have 
not  shared  V ' 

All  must  admit  the  claims  of  children  to  be  well  born  and 
reared.  And  all  admit  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  male  bread- 
winner to  provide  for  the  wife  who  gives  him  her  love  and  her 
confidence  and  who  aids  him  by  her  prudent  management  of 
the  home  while  they  both  care  for  the  children.  And  all 
children  must  admit  the  claim  of  their  parents  upon  them  for 
care  whenever  needed.  And  for  all  who  are  related  to  us,  in 
the  measure  of  the  intimacy  of  the  relation,  we  should  be 
helpful:  and  to  all  who  truly  need  and  cannot  do  for  them- 
selves we  should  manifest  that  charitable  spirit  which  is  an 
imitation  of  the  Divine  beneficence. 


184 


MAN'S   POWERS   AND   DUTIES. 


ANIMALS. 

Man  as  compared  with  lower  grades  of  animals  is  greatly 
superior  in  intelligence;  all  animals  with  whom  he  has  rela- 
tions are  subordinated  to  him.  His  mental  acumen  in  defense 
and  attack  are  more  than  a  match  for  their  greater  physical 
strength.  In  the  early  periods  of  the  earth's  existence,  when 
it  was  covered  with  nutritious  vegetation,  animal  monstrosities 
abounded  whose  instinct  for  killing  each  other  subserved 
God's  intent  of  enriching  the  surface  of  the  earth  for  man's 
use.  And  man  has  done  his  part  in  co-operating  with  God, 
since  his  advent  upon  the  earth,  in  exterminating  the  venomous 
and  harmful  members  of  the  animal  kingdom.  This  is  all 
right.  But  let  us  never  hurt  or  destroy  such  as  can  be  made 
useful  by  domestication.  And  let  us  remember  that  the  lower 
animals  are  specially  under  our  protection  as  they  are  under 
our  control. 

To  honor  God  is  to  respond  to  the  confidence  he  has  placed 
in  us  in  respect  to  the  comfort  and  well-being  of  animals  by 
always  showing  kindness  to  them.  All  domestic  animals  are 
given  to  man  to  serve  his  comfort  and  varied  uses.  But 
thoughtless  and  cruel  is  the  man  or  boy  who  would  wantonly 
kill  or  hurt  a  horse,  a  dog,  a  cat,  or  a  bird!  There  is  danger 

135 


MAN'S   POWERS   AND   DUTIES. 

that  such  a  one  would  in  case  of  provocation  or  anger  hurt  a 
weak  confiding' child.  Animals  which  we  domesticate  are  like 
children  confided  to  the  reasonable  and  kind  care  of  man. 
And  God  having1  so  confided  them  has  left  the  poor  brutes 
dumb  to  protest  against  any  wrongs.  If  a  horse  is  lashed, 
kicked  or  maimed  all  he  can  do  is  to  suiter,  his  humid  eyes 
meekly  regarding  his  cruel  master!  But  if  man  fails  in  the 
duty  of  kindness  to  animals  confided  so  fully  to  him  by  God, 
society  should  care  for  what  the  individual  is  cruel  enough  or 
thoughtless  enough  to  neglect  or  ill-treat.  There  should  be 
stringent  laws  against  and  adequate  punishment  for  all  wrong- 
doing by  cruel  human  animals  towards  our  dumb  friends. 
There  is  nothing  which  more  excites  my  anger  than  to  see  a 
man  abuse  or  cruelly  treat  a  dumb  beast! 

The  domesticated  animal  is  helpless  and  innocent  as  a 
child.  He  is  created  submissive  and  gentle  towards  man  that 
he  may  serve  him,  and  how  base  and  wicked  is  it  to  abuse  that 
humble  gentleness. 


MAX'S   POWERS   AND    DUTIES. 


SOCIAL    REFORMS. 

TEMPERANCE. 

Let  us  not  license  errors  and  crimes.  ~No  criminal  habit 
should  receive  the  right  of  protected  existence  through  our 
social  laws,  or  the  countenance  of  individual  sanction;  hence 
the  laws  licensing  rum-shops  and  brothels  are  unjustifiable  and 
should  be  condemned.  All  voting  citizens  who  make  such 
laws  are  responsible  in  a  degree  for  the  crimes  and  misery 
which  result  from  liquor  selling  and  licentiousness.  And  the 
money  received  into  a  State  or  City  treasury  from  such  license 
laws  is  blood-money,  wrung  from  the  miserable  drunkard  and 
his  unhappy  family.  Let  us  never  forget  that  the  power 
accorded  to  man  by  God  to  do  wrong  does  not  comprise  the 
right  to  do  wrong.  The  principle  of  justice  as  applied  to  all 
is  higher  than  the  power  of  free  action.  And  as  we  have 
no  right  to  injure  another,  so  have  we  no  right  to  injure  our- 
selves. Justice  to  all  comprises  justice  each  to  his  own  self. 
And  the  natural  penalty  or  consequence  of  suffering  attached 
to  vicious  habits  does  not,  when  suffered,  justify  or  atone  for 
the  wrong-doing. 

Man-kind  is  a  solidarity,  and  what  injures  one  injures  all : 
hence  our  laws  should  be  such  as  will  insure  the  well-being  of 
each  and  of  all  in  the  community. 

137 


MAN'S   POWERS   AND   DUTIES. 


*THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  LIQUOR  AMENDMENT. 


Human  laws  are  not  made  for  those  who  by  their  own  good 
principles  regulate  themselves.  There  may  be  too  much  law 
already  for  them.  But  there  is  often  a  deficiency  of  law,  or  of 
just  enforcement  of  law,  for  the  unprincipled  and  disorderly 
element  in  society.  Look  at  our  prohibitory  liquor  laws! 
How  often  the  venality  of  judges  or  attorneys  and  the  ineffi- 
ciency of  the  constabulary  prevent  their  execution.  And  the 
sectarian  spirit  in  the  churches,  which  prevents  good  men  and 
women  within  their  fold  from  co-operating  with  good  men  and 
women  outside  in  abating  the  infamous  liquor  traffic,  aids  the 
evil  cause.  The  writer  of  this  believes  in  the  existence  of  a 
God  wise  and  good  in  character,  and  believes  that  the  smile  of 
that  God  of  Wisdom  and  Justice  would  be  felt  in  the  hearts  of 
all  who  at  this  crisis  would  lend  a  helping  hand  and  a  favorable 
vote  to  the  passage  of  the  constitutional  amendment  against 
the  liquor  traffic!  Christians  may  do  well  to  pass  their  lives 
in  prayer  and  constant  efforts  to  save  their  own  souls.  But 
surely  God  would  forgive  at  this  time  a  little  disinterested 
effort  on  their  part  to  save  the  souls  of  others !  And  it  ought 
to  be  a  principle  with  us  all  to  seek  to  prevent  evil  in  the  com- 
munity as  well  as  in  ourselves. 

*  Written  at  the  time  such  an  amendment  was  submitted  to  the  people  of  Rhode  Island. 

138 


MAN'S   POWERS   AND    DUTIES. 


CONCERNING  CHILDREN  AND  THEIR  RIGHTS. 

Under  the  holy  bonds  of  Matrimony  we  invite  our  children 
to  exist.  God  has  implanted  in  human  nature,  as  in  all  the 
grades  of  being  beloxv  man,  the  instincts  or  qualities  we  term 
passions,  affection  and  love.  He  may  be  vicious  or  virtuous 
in  the  use  of  these  powers  as  he  elects.  Man  has  the  power 
to  degrade  his  body  and  mind  or  to  beautify  and  elevate  them. 
But  his  constitutional  qualities  inhere,  and  he  can  never  dis- 
lodge himself  from  the  primal  instincts  in  which  God  Himself 
has  manifested  His  divine  law.  Man  may  govern  by  en- 
lightened reason  his  affections,  his  pursuits  and  his  passions; 
But  he  can  never  eradicate  them.  And  no  mother  can  crush 
out  the  inherent  affection  for  her  children  which  is  implanted 
in  her  heart,  any  more  than  she  can  wilfully  prevent  the  cir- 
culation of  her  blood. 

Every  child  has  a  natural  right  to  be  born  under  happy 
circumstances,  and  none  but  healthy  and  mutually  harmoniously 
constituted  parents  should  dare  invite  a  child  into  existence. 
Every  child  has  a  right  to  possess  a  good  healthy  constitution. 
Hence  it  is  a  crime  for  people  to  marry  and  bring  children  into 
the  world  when  afflicted  with  consumption,  scrofula  or  any 
disease  which  may  be  entailed  upon  offspring.  To  invite  a 
child  to  exist  under  such  conditions  is  to  do  an  injustice  to  the 

139 


MAX'S   POWERS  AND   DUTIES. 

child  itself  and  to  society  at  large.  And  the  punishment  for 
this  crime  is  speedily  felt  by  the  parents  themselves,  as  their 
natural  affections  are  wounded  by  the  sight  of  a  sickly  badly 
constituted  child,  whose  sufferings  they  share  in  sympathy, 
and  to  whom  they  must  give  much  time  and  money  for  nursing 
and  care.  Such  parents  often  ask  the  time  and  sympathy  of 
relatives  and  friends  in  their  affliction.  But  I  think  we  should 
be  economical  of  our  sympathy  to  the  parents  themselves,  for 
they  are  criminals  and  to  be  condemned  in  this  matter.  As  to 
the  poor  suffering  children,  they  should  be  helped  in  all  possible 
ways,  for  they  are  innocent  and  wronged  victims.  If  such 
poorly  constituted  children  die  young  we  should  not  mourn, 
for  neither  God  nor  a  sensible  man  thinks  it  best  that  the  race 
of  man  should  be  composed  of  poor  imperfectly  constituted 
men  and  women  who  in  their  turn  might  propagate  their  kind. 
It  is  for  man  to  use  his  freedom  and  will  in  all  wisdom  in 
regard  to  the  existence  and  perpetuation  of  the  race.  God 
shows  his  own  wisdom  and  love  in  the  law  which  places  no 
limit  to  human  progress  toward  perfection,  but  does  place  a 
limit  to  man's  physical  and  mental  deterioration. 

Children  lacking  beyond  a  certain  point  in  either  physical 
or  mental  power  must  either  die  or  be  without  capacity  to 
perpetuate  their  infirmities.  All  human  beings  must  come  up 
to  at  least  the  minimum  requirements  of  God's  law.  The 
greatest  value  of  life  depends  upon  a  healthy  constitution  free 
from  taints  of  hereditary  disease.  And  parents  should  never 
forget  that  constitutional  conditions  are  fixed  by  the  parents 
and  more  remote  ancestry.  And  this  thought  should  lead 

140 


MAN'S   POWERS  AND    DUTIES. 

them    to    exercise    reason    and    obey    the   law  of   right  in  all 
things. 

Perhaps  i'e\v.  if  any.  are  the  eases  in  which  the  birth  of  a 
human  being'  may  not  prove  in  >ome  sense  a  blessing1  to  itself. 
Still  there  >eem  to  be  thousands  of  human  being's  who  ought 
never  to  have  been  born.  And  the  sovereign  will-power  of 
individuals  is  responsible  in  all  >uch  cases  for  the  births  and 
attendant  miseries.  How  absurd  then  is  the  saying'  that  ''God 
never  sends  mouths  without  sending'  food  to  fill  them."  God 
never  sends  any  mouths  at  all!  Mouths  are  introduced  into 
the  world  by  men  and  women,  and  they  alone  are  responsible 
for  the  filling-  of  those  mouths.  For  the  most  part  our  poor- 
houses  are  crowded  with  people  who  should  never  have  been 
introduced  into  the  world.  What  folly  is  it,  how  unreasonable, 
how  morally  wrong,  for  a  poor  couple  in  unfortunate  condi- 
tions of  life,  without  means  to  properly  feed  themselves,  to 
send  out  invitations  to  children  who  come  smilingly  to  partake 
of  a  feast  of  life  only  to  find  a  famine!  Such  persons  commit 
a  wrong  upon  society  nearly  akin  to  theft;  for  since  civilized 
society  has  a  law  that  no  one  must  be  allowed  to  starve,  the 
kith  and  kin,  and  often  society  at  large,  are  called  upon  to 
provide  for  the  children  bidden  by  these  thoughtless  parents  to 
a  poverty-stricken  board.  I  say  bidden  by  thoughtless  parents, 
for  God  had  no  voice  in  the  calling!  And  charity  is  obliged 
to  make  forced  drafts  upon  the  labor  and  resources  of  others 
to  care  for  those  thus  made  dependent  at  birth.  We  have  to 
open  alms-houses  and  soup  kitchens,  establish  fuel  societies 
and  hold  charity  fairs  to  meet  this  demand.  And  our  benevo- 

141 


MAN'S   POWERS  AND   DUTIES. 

lent  ladies  of  leisure  go  about  from  house  to  house  to  per- 
suade all  to  contribute  ''for  sweet  charity's  sake  "  to  the  support 
of  these  dependent  ones.  And  such  charity  has  certainly  its 
dark  side;  for  it  tends  to  make  pauperism  a  fixed  quantity  in 
society.  And  in  some  way  people  should  be  taught  that  it  is 
wrong  to  bring  children  into  the  world  whom  they  cannot 
support,  and  then  make  those  who  have  been  provident  and 
just  in  their  own  lives  "stand  and  deliver"  for  charity's  sake, 
enough  to  keep  their  families. 

The  Divine  Power  does  not  hesitate  through  the  agency 
of  His  laws  to  shorten  the  lives  of  men,  women  and  children 
for  infractions  of  them.  God's  Will  is  disregarded  by  our 
disobeying  these  laws.  These  laws  are  easily  understood,  and 
if  we  would  live  long  and  happily  we  must  obey  them! 
Otherwise  disobey!  and  take  your  chances  of  vanishing  from 
the  world's  surface.  But  in  fact,  knowing  the  existence  of 
these  laws  and  the  effects  of  disobeying  them,  and  having  the 
power  and  the  liberty  to  act  in  obedience  or  disobedience,  it  is 
man  himself  who  foolishly  courts  death.  Constant  care,  con- 
stant vigilance,  is  the  price  we  pay  for  the  privilege  of  staying 
in  this  beautiful  world!  Women  are  perhaps  a  little  more 
favored  than  men  in  respect  to  safety  and  length  of  life, 
because  women  are  naturally  more  timid  and  careful;  by  a 
just  dispensation,  Nature  places  the  strongest  safeguards  to 
protect  beings  whose  lives  are  the  most  precious !  In  infancy 
and  in  fact  all  the  way  through  life,  a  man  estimates  his  mother 
a  trifle  higher  than  he  estimates  his  father,  without  however 
derogating  from  the  high  estimation  in  which  he  holds  the 

142 


MAX'S  POWERS  AND  DUTIES. 

latter.  Mothers,  sisters,  wives  and  (laughters  are  never  drafted 
and  sent  out  to  light  in  wars.  God  bless  their  natural  careful- 
ness and  timidity  which  spares  them,  and  saves  man  from  the 
terrible  sacrifice  which  a  strong  animal  courage  in  women 
would  entail  upon  him. 

The  husband  and  father  of  a  family  in  America  is  the  one 
that  wife  and  daughter  as  a  rule  look  up  to  for  the  material 
supplies  of  the  family.  This  disposition  in  the  male  of  our 
race  to  work  for  those  we  love,  furthers  the  will  of  God,  for 
as  a  rule  it  is  implanted  by  God  in  the  mind  of  man  and  can- 
not be  eliminated  by  human  will.  But  all  men  are  not  gifted 
equally  with  a  constitutional  power  to  win  easily  bread  for 
their  families.  Some  have  been  poorly  constituted  by  their 
parents,  and  were  badly  conditioned  in  mind  and  body  at  birth, 
as  perhaps  were  their  parents  when  they  were  born.  The  laws 
of  Heredity  should  therefore  be  studied  and  followed  that  it 
may  become  easier  for  all  to  do  right  and  to  meet  all  the 
obligations  of  life. 


143 


MAN'S    POWERS   AND    I)1TTIKS. 


EDUCATION  OF  CHILDREN. 

Children  not  only  have  a  right  to  be  well  born,  but  to  be 
well  brought  up;  to  be  kept  abreast  of  the  best  development 
of  their  time  in  all  things.  If  parents  plant  truth  in  the  minds 
of  their  children  it  will  be  accepted  in  loving  confidence,  as 
coming  from  their  earliest  and  best  friends.  And  if  error  is 
planted,  and  prejudice,  they  will  be  imbibed  with  equal  confi- 
dence. And  in  after  life  it  will  prove  exceedingly  difficult  to 
uproot  either  the  one  or  the  other.  How  easy  is  it  to  trace 
many  errors  and  mistakes  of  after  life  to  false  or  mistaken 
instruction  in  childhood! 

Parents  are  the  natural  guardians  and  instructors  of  their 

• 

children,  and  to  teach  all  the  truth  they  have  perceived  is  to 
perform  a  high  duty.  In  that  way  they  obey  the  law  estab- 
lished in  the  beautiful  parental  relation.  Parents  are  thus 
enabled  to  give  their  children  the  benefit  of  their  own  ex- 
perience and  share  with  them  their  convictions  of  right  and 
wrong.  Thus  religious  beliefs  are  perpetuated  by  being  handed 
down  from  parents  .to  children,  and  if  a  parent  teaches  the 
best  he  knows  to  his  child  he  will  feel  the  satisfaction  of  a 
good  conscience,  whether  he  be  Christian,  Mahomedan,  or 
believer  in  any  other  religion. 

144 


MAX'S    POWERS   AND   DUTIES. 

It  is  hard  upon  tin-  children,  therefore,  when  the  parent  is 
an  Agnostic  or  Atheist.  For  then  when  the  child  asks  ''Is 
there  a  God?"  The  parent  replies  "I  know  of  none,  I  per- 
ceive none.  I  perceive  causes  and  effects,  and  I  perceive  laws 
which  apparently  operate  by  their  own  power.  I  perceive  that 
every  animal,  plant,  and  part  of  nature  has  power  within  itself 
of  adaptation  to  outward  conditions.  I  see  no  need  of  a 
Power  outside  this  force  of  evolution  to  create  and  care  for  all 
things." 

But  Atheists  cannot  escape  the  happy  influences  which  an 
intelligent  and  good  God  daily  showers  upon  them.  It  would 
seem  that  the  Atheist  and  Agnostic  must  know  that  from 
some  Power,  not  his  own,  the  Sun  shines,  the  law"  of  gravity 
holds  him  kindly  to  the  earth,  that  he  may  be  comfortable  and 
happy  in  his  relations  with  his  fellow  creatures,  with  his  valued 
mother,  his  wife  and  his  children,  and  that  he  may  enjoy  all 
the  precious  affections  growing  out  of  these  relations.  And 
though  no  one  is  competent  to  describe  God  in  His  fulness  of 
perfection,  no  child  need  go  beyond  the  beautiful  family 
relation  itself,  "into  which  he  is  born,  to  find  a  love  and  disin- 
terestedness which  are  a  revelation  of  God.  For  kind  and 
loving  parents  are  the  agents  and  representatives  of  our  Divine 
Father.  They  express  His  will  and  character  in  their  loving 
care  of  their  children.  And  how  happy  are  parents,  not  only 
of  the  human  race  but  throughout  all  organized  existence,  in 
the  performance  of  their  duties,  in  loving  protection  and  care 
of  off-spring.  The  she-bear  tenderly  suckles  her  cubs,  and 
even  the  venomous  serpent  has  regard  for  her  young. 

145 


MAN'S   POWERS  AND   DUTIES. 

There  is  a  saying  "  There  is  nothing  perfect  but  a  mother's 
first  baby."  How  beautiful  are  the  ordainments  of  our  Divine 
Father  in  his  relations  with  human  beings!  God,  although  to 
our  comprehension  a  positive  unchangeable  Will  in  regard  to 
the  laws  of  nature,  is  yet  most  considerate  and  delicate  in 
regard  to  ourselves  in  the  process  of  their  execution.  How 
often  our  Divine  Father  hides  his  own  master  hand,  that  we 
may  cherish  the  dignifying  thought  that  it  is  our  little  human 
will  that  governs  us.  And  from  the  lowest  orders  of  existence 
up  to  man  and  woman  who  are  the  master  spirits  of  the  earth, 
the  great  divine  law  of  love  of  off-spring  prevails!  God  has 
thus  made  the  performance  of  their  duties,  and  the  exercise  of 
needed  affection  toward  their  children,  the  greatest  happiness 
to  parents.  And  since  we  are  thus  the  agents  of  God  in  the 
care  and  instruction  of  our  children,  investigation  respecting 
the  truth  or  falsity  of  our  opinions  is  always  in  order,  that  we 
may  be  sure  we  are  giving  our  children  the  most  knowledge 
we  are  capable  of  acquiring.  Ignorance  and  superstition  are 
mental  diseases  which  should  not,  any  more  than  bodily  dis- 
orders be  allowed  to  taint  our  children. 


146 


SECTION  THIRD. 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  THE  PRESENT  AND 
THE    FUTURE. 


SYSTEMS  OF  RELIGION.  LEADERS  OF  THOUGHT. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION:  ITS  TRUTHS  AND  ITS  ERRORS. 

SAINTS   AND  SINNERS. 
WANTED:  A  BETTER  SYSTEM  OF  RELIGION. 

CLOUDS  BREAKING. 
THOUGHTS  IN  REGARD  TO  A  NEW  RELIGION. 

RELIGIOUS  DUTIES. 

AFFIRMATION  OF  PRINCIPLES. 

IMMORTALITY.  PRAYERS  TO  GOD.  CREEDS. 

THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  OF  CHILDREN:  OR  A  LESSON  ON  THE 
PATERNAL  CHARACTER  OF  GOD. 

BELL  STREET  CHAPEL. 

GUIDING  PRINCIPLES  PROPOSED  AS  THE  BASIS  OF  A  NEW 
RELIGIOUS  SOCIETY. 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  THE  PRESENT  AND 
THE  FUTURE. 

SYSTEMS  OF   RELIGION. 

Every  intelligent  conscious  human  being  requires  and  must 
have  a  religion! 

Religions  that  have  at  any  time  existed,  have  been  estab- 
lished by  man's  own  free  will  and  influence.  The  philosopher 
may  observe  that  the  rationality  in  the  creeds  of  every  religion 
of  every  age  has  corresponded  to  the  degree  of  general  intelli- 
gence existing  in  the  human  mind  at  the  time  of  their  adoption. 
Man  himself,  acting  individually  and  collectively,  has  instituted 
every  religion  that  ever  existed  or  that  now  exists !  And  the 
creed,  belief,  and  general  character  of  each  and  every  religion 
corresponds  with  the  supposed  character  of  God,  and  the  sup- 
posed nature  of  man's  relation  to  God,  at  the  time  of  its 
adoption.  God  being  invisible  to  our  senses  the  human  mind 
has  idealized  Him  in  various  forms  and  symbols.  Knowing 
nothing  superior  to  man  either  in  body  or  mind,  God  has  been 
idealized  as  a  man.  And  as  a  visible  object  of  worship  the 
sun  has  for  long  periods  of  time  been  adored  as  God,  or  as  the 
symbol  and  manifestation  of  God. 

149 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

If  this  world  is  not  still  in  its  infancy,  at  least  it  is  not 
beyond  the  early  period  of  its  adolescence.  And  the  old  nurse 
of  the  world  seems  to  have  been  the  ugly  hag*  Superstition! 
The  so-called  religions  of  the  world,  even  of  the  more  civilized 
parts,  seem  to  be  based  not  so  much  upon  the  intelligence  of 
men  as  upon  their  ignorance. 

Human  thoughts  like  the  birds  of  the  air  are  permitted  by 
God  to  soar  everywhere! 

Using  the  precious  privilege,  freedom  of  thinking,  let  us 
examine  sincerely  and  freely  the  grounds  of  all  old  beliefs  and 
judge  for  ourselves  of  their  value.  God  in  giving  us  the 
power  to  reflect  and  examine,  intended  we  should  fearlessly 
use  that  power.  Let  us  begin  if  necessary,  by  doubting  our 
inherited  faiths,  and  let  us  proceed  to  build  up  our  own  con- 
victions by  the  aid  of  reason  and  study  until  we  have  fixed 
principles  of  belief  in  our  minds;  this  will  lead  to  content- 
ment and  happiness.  We  find  ourselves  on  arriving  at  the 
age  of  independence  of  thought  to  be  what  we  are  by  inheri- 
tance. As  children  we  naturally  conform  to  the  belief  con- 
cerning the  character  of  God,  His  laws  and  our  relation  to 
Him,  which  our  parents  hold  and  assure  us  is  the  simple  solemn 
truth.  It  is  next  to  impossible  that  there  should  be  any  dis- 
sonance between  parents  and  children  in  these  matters  of 
belief.  We  are  all  born  into  religion,  as  we  are  into  all  the 
other  conditions  and  faculties  which  grade  us  in  creation.  It  is 
the  will  of  God  that  mankind  universally  should  be  born  into 
the  love  and  affection  of  their  parents,  rather  than  into  any 
especial  faith  and  belief  in  regard  to  Himself.  He  has  left  man 

150 


RELIGIONS   OF   THE    ['AST.    PRESENT   AND    Fl'Tt'RE. 

the  liberty  and  privilege  to  perpet nate  his  own  errors  aiul 
idiosyncrasies  in  hi-  children.  And  He  relies  upon  Mahometans, 
Jews.  Chinese.  Indian.-  and  Christians  alike,  to  give  sincerely 
to  their  children  the  hest  material  and  mental  food  they  can 
command  in  all  iin-eliish  kindnes>.  And  that  is  just  what  is 
bein<_r  done  to-day  in  our  world,  has  always  been  done,  and  will 
continue  to  be  until  the  end  of  time.  God  will  not  interfere 
either  to  eradicate  human  errors  or  to  increase  human  knowl- 
edge, save  by  and  through  the  operation  of  laws  fixed  in  the 
constitution  of  things.  To  man's  more  or  less  evolved  intelli- 
gence at  every  given  period  of  human  growth,  is  left  the  ascer- 
tainment and  teaching  of  religious  as  of  other  truths.  To  the 
power  and  extent  of  man's  liberty  and  will  everything  good 
and  desirable  in  the  way  of  knowledge  can  be  obtained.  We 
should  not  therefore  degrade  our  intelligence  and  dignity  by 
praying  for  that  which  we  may  get  only  through  our  own 
exertions,  as  individuals,  and  as  a  race  of  beings. 

Great  advances  have  been  made  in  physical  science.  Our 
general  comfort  and  well  being  are  increasing  through  labor- 
saving  inventions.  Wonderful  discoveries  have  been  made  by 
the  human  intellect.  And  we  are  justified  in  hoping  that  in 
time,  man  by  means  of  these  advances  in  physical  science  may 
attain  to  the  leisure  of  the  grazing  animals  in  the  field  to  whom 
God  has  not  given  the  power  to  make  mistakes!  Our  attain- 
ments in  the  line  of  religion  and  morals  do  not  correspond 
with  those  made  in  the  physical  sphere.  And  yet  the  highest 
happiness  and  well  being  of  man  depend  more  upon  his  relig- 
ions and  moral  progress  than  upon  the  mechanical  arts  which 

151 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,   PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

give  us  leisure,  food  and  raiment.  The  needs  of  the  mind 
are  greater  than  the  needs  of  the  body. 

To  ascertain  and  perform  our  religious  and  moral  duties  will 
most  of  all  conduce  to  our  well-being  and  happiness  in  this 
world.  But  evolution  is  slow,  and  it  may  be  many  ages  before 

\j  *j         <_j 

the  mind  of  man  will  clearly  recognize  his  true  relations  with 
God  and  with  his  fellow  creatures.  When  that  time  arrives, 
and  our  minds  so  approximate  in  intelligence  and  in  goodness 
to  the  Divine,  the  millenium  will  appear.  But  in  the  meantime 
is  there  no  happiness  of  truth,  apprehension,  and  of  right- 
doing,  for  man?  Most  certainly  there  is  joy  and  increasing  well 
being  at  every  point  of  progress,  as  we  march  individually 
and  collectively  towards  our  goal  of  perfection. 

The  prevailing  faith  of  one  period  of  time  has  been  rejected 
by  the  succeeding  one,  but  in  these  changes  there  have  been 
no  abrupt  transitions.  One  faith  or  system  of  religion  has 
gradually  dissolved  into  another  like  Daguerre's  dissolving 
views ! 

Owing  to  the  slowness  of  growth,  and  the  often  blurred 
views  of  religious  matters  which  these  changes  give,  it  is 
hard  for  a  young  person  often  to  know  what  to  believe.  Such 
should  remember  that  true  faith  is  born  of  real  convictions, 
and  that  convictions  of  truths  are  always  built  up  by  patient 
investigation  each  one  for  himself.  One  should  reflect  as  pro- 
foundly as  possible  upon  the  facts  of  life  and  history,  add  to 
these  his  own  experience,  and  exercise  his  reason  and  common 
sense  as  in  all  other  things. 


152 


RELIGIONS  OF   THE   PAST.   PRESENT   AND   FUTURE. 


LEADERS   OF   THOUGHT. 

As  some  trees  in  a  forest  dominate  others  in  height  and 
wide  extent  of  branches,  so  in  every  age  of  the  world  there 
are  a  lew  men  who  rise  in  intellectual  power  above  the  masses 
and  become  conspicuous  in  various  lines  of  thought  and  effort. 
The  love  of  truth  is  stronger  in  these  men  than  in  the  average 
of  mankind,  and  they  therefore  seek  with  earnestness  to 
winnow  truth  from  the  inherited  errors  of  superstition.  The 
leaders  and  advocates  of  any  prevailing  religion  are  strong  in 
the  power  of  organization.  And  this  makes  it  difficult  for  any 
to  doubt  accepted  theories,  however  superstitious,  and  renders 
it  almost  impossible  for  young  persons  to  break  away  from 
the  prevailing  form  of  religious  faith.  But  intelligent  and 
honest  investigators  of  strong  mind  doubt,  as  they  must,  and 
lead  the  way  to  transitions  of  growth.  Philosophy  and  scien- 
tific truth  are  the  results  of  mental  research  and  knowledge 
of  ascertained  facts.  Hence  truths  of  science  underlie  and 
are  combined  with  true  religion.  Religion  as  I  interpret  it,  is 
the  performance  of  all  duties  growing  out  of  our  relations 
with  God.  And  morality  comprises  all  of  duty  growing  out 
of  our  relations  with  our  fellow  creatures  :  and  in  the  term 
fellow  creatures  should  be  comprised  all  animals. 

153 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST.   PRESENT  AND  Fl  TURK. 

All  true  legitimate  religion  in  Hit'  sense  in  which  I  have  hen- 
used  the  word,  must  he  acknowledged  and  endorsed  hv  an 
intelligent  philosophy,  and  must  harmonize  with  all  ascertained 
scientific  truths.  Unless  this  harmony  with  the  most  en- 
lightened reason  is  secured,  religion  will  always  become  not  a 
true  but  a  spurious  system  of  faith,  based  upon  ignorance  and 
filled  with  superstition  and  leading  to  false  notions  of  God  and 
of  Duty.  The  source  of  growth  in  religion,  and  the  tests  of 
its  beauty  and  its  use  are  in  the  intelligent  mind  and  heart  of 
the  human  race. 

Religious  sentiments  should  be  based  upon  the  noblest 
traits  of  human  character;  such  as  unselfishness,  justice,  char- 
ity, love  of  truth,  honor  in  its  true  sense,  and  the  whole  train 
of  real  virtues.  Our  children  should  be  trained  to  exercise 
every  magnanimous  sentiment  and  to  be  guided  by  such  early 
in  life.  We  should  form  the  minds  of  our  children;  train  them 
up  as  you  would  a  young  plant  to  the  observance  of  the  best 
we  ourselves  know.  If  parents  themselves  in  their  own  char- 
acter and  daily  life  could  furnish  perfect  models  for  their 
children,  what  an  easy  task  it  would  be  to  form  the  young  in 
resemblance  to  their  own  nobility!  In  that  case  parents  might 
see  their  own  virtues  budding  in  the  tender  minds  and  hearts 
of  their  offspring ;  for  children  are  easy  imitators  and  are  early 
looking  about  for  models  of  action.  How  beautiful  to  the  re- 
flecting mind  are  the  family  relations  instituted  by  a  presiding 
Power  in  nature.  We  honor  ourselves  in  calling  this  Power 
"  Divine  Father."  In  all  matters  pertaining  to  religion  and 
morality  therefore  it  should  be  made  an  easy  task  by  our 

154 


RELKilONS   OF   T1IF    PAST,    PRESENT   AM)   FUTURE. 

religious  teachers  lor  parents  to  instill  into  tin-  tender  receptive 
minds  of  their  children  true  ideas  of  the  character  of  God,  of 
our  relations  to  Him,  and  of  our  duties  to  each  other.  And 
when  the  true  leaders  of  advanced  thought  shall  have  fully 
impressed  a  better  than  the  prevailing1  religious  belief  upon  the 
thought  of  the  masses  of  mankind,  this  will  be  the  case. 


155 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST.   PRESENT  AND  FUTURIi 


THE   CHRISTIAN    RELIGION;    ITS   TRUTHS   AND 

ITS  ERRORS. 


In  the  heterogeneous  compilations  of  the  Christian  scrip- 
tures were  laid  down  truths  and  fictions,  realities  and  imagin- 
ary conceptions!  In  them  are  contained  statements  of  princi- 
ples conforming  to  the  best  modern  view  of  our  true  relations 
with  some  wise  and  good  Power  above  the  human,  and  state- 
ments also  which  are  like  night-mare  experiences  and  violate 
every  sentiment  of  nobility  and  justice  which  has  been  im- 
planted in  the  constitution  of  man  by  the  same  great  Power 
above  the  human.  The  history  of  Christianity,  like  the  history 
of  Mahometanism  or  Buddhism,  is  the  history  of  the  good 
effects  of  the  teaching  of  truth,  and  of  the  bad  effects  of  the 
teaching  of  terrible  errors  as  well;  a  Reaching  of  errors  which, 
perpetuated  by  powerful  organizations,  persists  to  this  day! 

Slow  as  are  the  geologic  changes  of  the  earth  seem  to  be 
the  mental  changes  of  man!  Powerful  organizations  like  the 
one  gathered  and  perpetuated  by  the  Christian  religion,  have 
accompanied  every  religious  system.  And  these  organizations 
by  means  of  revivals,  "  awakenings "  at  favorable  times,  as 
during  the  depressed  conditions  following  cyclones,  earth- 


156 


REI.KJIONS  OF  THE   PAST.   PRESENT   AND   FUTURE. 

(|iiake>.  inundations,  death-  and  financial  crises,  retain  allegi- 
ance and  procure  new  converts  to  the  prevailing' system  of  be- 
lief long  alter  the  most  intelligent  of  the  period  have  discarded 
its  dogmas.  At  such  times  of  revivals,  churches  arc1  refilled 
and  pro>perons.  legacies  and  bequests  pour  in  from  the  sick 
and  dying,  and  a  new  lease  of  life  is  given  even  to  the  most 
ancient  and  out-grown  faith.  All  these  awakenings  and  re- 
vivals are  brought  about  by  the  enthusiasm  fomented  from 
ignorance1  and  blind  superstitious  beliefs. 

When  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  was  at  the  height  of  its 
power,  it  was  not  sale  for  doubters,  or  those  leaders  of  thought 
who  first  defined  the  next  step  of  progress,  to  think  aloud. 
For  freedom  of  speech  in  those  times  meant  punishment  by 
faggot  and  torture.  The  life  of  the  intelligent  thinker  who 
ventured  to  criticise  the  prevailing  religious  views  was  jeop- 
ardized, the  comfort  of  his  family  destroyed,  and  all  the  inter- 
ests of  his  friends  compromised.  In  those  days  it  seemed  to 
be  too  great  a  sacrifice  for  any  honest  philosophic  thinker  to 
risk  the  penalty  of  sincere  speech.  But  some  noble  men  did 
take  those  risks,  and  received  their  martyrdom.  What  horri- 
ble monsters  are  Ignorance,  Superstition  and  Bigotry!  By  the 
efforts  of  these  lovers  and  seekers  of  truth  we  have  reached  a 
stage  when  no  religious  organization  amongst  us  can  forbid 
freedom  of  speech  or  check  independent  thought. 

But  in  our  own  day  the  systems  of  theology  bar  out  the 
masses  by  the  onorous  unreasonable  conditions  which  they  an- 
nex to  discipleship.    Belief  in  repulsive  dogmas,  and  in  a  spec- 
ial order  of  ceremonies,  is  still  demanded  of  those  who  would 
/  . 

157 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE   PAST,  PRESENT  AND   FrTl'KE. 

become  members  of  the  Church,  which  in  our  land  means  the 
Christian  Church.  And  preachers  do  not.  ask  us  to  study  the 
grounds  of  the  belief  which  they  press  upon  our  acceptance. 
Their  tone  is  still  imperative.  Even  the  Unitarians,  the  most 
advanced  of  all  the  sects  of  Christendom,  ask  all  of  us  in  the 
Constitution  of  their  "National  Conference  to  recognize  the 
kingship  of  Jesus. 


158 


RELIGIONS   OF   Till:    PAST.    PRESENT   AND   FUTURE. 


SAINTS   AND   SINNERS. 


There  are  some  honest  but  timid  people,  with  a  strong*  and 
earnest  faith,  who  conceive  the  character  of  God  to  be  pre- 
cisely that  which  has  been  handed  down  by  the  forefathers 
and  the  traditions  of  the  church.  These  are  the  devotees  of 
the  Christian  system  of  religion.  And  as  the  Jews  believed 
themselves  to  be  the  chosen  people  of  their  God,  so  do 
Christians  who  possess  sincere  faith  in  Orthodox  Christianity 
believe  that  all  persons  adopting  their  belief  as  found  in  the 
Bible  and  as  written  in  the  Church  creeds,  are  the  chosen  people 
of  God,  to  be  especially  favored  after  death.  Thus  the  old 
Jewish  idea  of  favoritism  in  God  is  perpetuated  in  Christianity. 
This  idea  of  being  the  eternally  favored  proteges  of  Divine 
Power  must  be  very  soothing  and  satisfying  to  Christians. 
They  preach  and  believe  apparently,  that  the  "dead  in  Christ" 
rise  first  at  the  Judgment  Day  and  go  straight  to  heaven, 
thus  securing  of  course  the  most  eligible  mansions!  It  seems 
to  me  that  selfishness  is  thus  made  a  striking  characteristic 
of  the  Christian  system  of  religion.  To  represent  God  as  par- 
tial in  His  beneficence  to  those  who  have  accepted  a  special 

159 


KHLIGIONS  OF  TIIIL  PAS']',   PRKSEXT  AM)   Fl'TURK. 

form  of  belief,  while  honest  and  good  men  and  women  who 
aeee])t  another  as  more  consistent  with  their  reason  are  pun- 
ished by  Him,  is  to  represent  an  unreasonable  being',  and  to 
cultivate  selfish  feelings  in  those  who  consider  themselves  Ilis 
favorites ! 

In  the  estimation  of  most  Christians  it  seems  to  make  no 
difference  whether  a  person  leads  a  moral  life,  performing  all 
his  duties  in  the  family  relation,  being  honest  and  just  in  all 
his  transactions  with  the  world,  or  not.  He  cannot  go  to 
heaven  or  receive  any  rewards  for  his  right  actions  unless  he 
joins  the  church  of  Christ!  The  people  whom  the  Church 
calls  "sinners"  whether  they  are  moral  or  immoral,  came  into 
the  world  innocently  accepting  the  invitations  of  their  parents 
to  appear;  a  summons  peremptory  and  impossible  to  resist! 
And  by  whose  power  did  they  exist?  Ultimately  by  the  power 
of  the  Author  of  all  life  in  the  Universe.  Now  in  this  world, 
among  men,  we  look  for  the  exercise  of  justice  in  our  relations 
one  with  another,  and  as  a  rule  there  is  among  the  men  highest 
in  power  and  intelligence  a  law  of  honor,  "noblesse  oblige," 
the  obligation  to  be  both  just  and  generous  toward  the  poorer 
and  weaker  of  their  kind.  Have  not,  1  would  ask,  poor 
dependent  mortals  a  right  to  expect  as  much  justice  and  con- 
sideration from  God  as  from  their  fellow  creatures?  I  submit 
to  the  reason  and  good  sense  of  Christians  if  there  should  not 
be  a  law  of  justice  towards  all  born  into  the  world  through 
Divine  Power;  an  equal  chance  for  every  human  guest  invited 
to  the  feast  of  life?  Christians  as  a  rule  by  the  exercise  of 
good  habits,  by  thrift,  a  fair  degree  of  morality,  and  a  high 

160 


RELIGIONS  OK   Till-:   PAST,   L'KESEXT  AND   L-TTl'RE. 

degree  of  poetical  enjoyment  through  excited  hopes  of  Heaven 
and  the  cheering  belief  that  they  are  the  favorites  of  God, 
attain  social  position  and  live  happily  in  this  world.  On  the 
other  hand  many  a  sinful  vagabond,  born  of  imperfectly  con- 
stituted or  intemperate  parents,  summoned  into  the1  \vorld  by 
an  invitation  he  was  forced  to  accept,  born  with  bodily  and 
mental  infirmities,  uneducated,  growing'  up  in  degradation, 
intemperate  himself,  miserable  in  health,  avoided  by  all  re- 
spectable people,  is  pushed  by  poverty,  steals  or  murders, 
and  is  condemned,  imprisoned  and  hung.  And  where  does  he 
go  after  death?  Of  course  according  to  the  Creed,  he  goes 
to  hell.  Is  not  hell,  some  would  say,  the  only  lit  place  for 
such  as  he?  And,  as  Carlyle  would  say,  "  he  is  lucky  to  have 
a  hell  to  go  to." 

But  would  not  a  just  God,  who  rules  and  guides  all  things, 
whose  Providence  is  over  all  human  events,  see  to  it  that  such 
a  poor  miserable  sinner  had  something  in  another  world  to 
compensate  him  for  the  miseries  of  this  one?  If  one  has  a 
claim  upon  the  Divine  Father,  surely  all  of  his  children  have 
an  equal  claim.  A  just  God  must  be  impartial  toward  all. 
And  justice  would  seem  to  indicate  that  those  who  received 
the  worst  possible  conditions  here,  should  be  given  a  better 
chance  hereafter;  while  for  the  good  and  happy  in  this  life  a 
taste  of  misery  in  the  next  would  only  equalize  things ! 

These  selfish  views  of  God's  favoritism  and  partiality  must 
pass  away.  And  in  fact  the  religious  atmosphere  is  being 
gradually  cleansed  in  civilized  countries  of  every  faith.  We 
must  credit  Christianity  itself  with  furnishing  the  first  pio- 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

neers  in  this  work.  When  the  Protestants  split  themselves 
off  from  the  Catholie  Church,  they  began  the  work  of  purify- 
ing the  Christian  system;  and  by  splitting  themselves  further 
into  sects,  and  adopting  various  shades  of  opinion,  and  differ- 
ing creeds,  they  have  continued  the  work  of  disintegration 
and  also  of  purification.  Yet  it  is  true,  to  my  thought,  that 
all  these  various  shades  of  Christian  belief  have  in  them 
pessimistic  and  false  ideas  of  God  and  of  man.  The  Univer- 
sal ists  were  noble  pioneers  in  pushing  religion  upwards  from 
the  depths  of  superstition  to  the  light  of  reason;  for  they  dis- 
carded "  hell,"  the  corner  stone  of  fear  in  the  Christian  system 
while  holding  on  to  "  heaven  "  the  other  corner  stone  of  hope. 
But  the  Universalists  retained  other  and  less  desirable  ele- 
ments of  Christianity.  Then  came  Unitarianism  with  its 
noble  pioneer,  Dr.  Channing.  Unitarianism  was  at  first  sim- 
ply an  attempt  to  bind  the  three  Gods  of  the  Christian  system 
into  one.  It  has  now  become  a  broader  movement  slowly 
working  towards  freedom  of  thought  in  religion.  And  while 
the  Eastern  or  more  conservative  branch  of  Unitarianism 
adheres  to  the  Divine  kingship  of  Jesus,  and  makes  much  of 
its  belief  in  the  doctrine  of  personal  immortality,  the  Western 
branch,  with  talented  leaders,  are  way  ahead  of  these  and  pro- 
fess nothing  but  "  freedom,  fellowship  and  character  in 
religion."  To  my  thought  the  Western  Unitarians  have  car- 
ried individualism  to  an  excess.  Individualism  must  prevail 
where  there  are  no  guiding  principles,  to  influence  the  mind 
of  man  collectively.  But  if  to  be  religious,  means  to  perform 
all  the  duties  growing  out  of  our  relations  with  God  we  can- 

162 


RELKJIONS  or  THE  PAST.  PRESENT  AND  FITI-RE. 

not  consistently  ignore  in  our  thought,  or  in  OUT  profession, 
the  existence  of  God.  All  religion  and  all  religious  duties 
grow  out  of  our  relations  with  God  :  hence,  to  ignore  His 
existence  would  be  in  my  opinion  to  deprive  the  words  "•  char- 
acter in  religion  "  of  definite  meaning.  I  believe  that  all 
religious  sentiments  and  all  religious  duties  grow  out  of  man's 
relations  with  his  Divine  Father.  We  have  the  mental  power 
to  reasonably  idealize  this  Divine  Father,  and  we  are  therefore 
justified  in  believing  that  man,  to  whom  God  has  given  these 
powers  of  mind,  has  been  placed  on  this  earth  and  wisely 
fitted  to  dominate  all  other  animals,  and  in  time  to  conquer  all 
forces  of  nature;  and  is  therefore  specially  worthy  of  digni- 
fying himself  by  calling  the  great  High  Power  to  whom  he 
owes  existence  his  "Divine  Father."  We  may  properly  claim 
a  nearer  kinship  to  God  than  can  any  other  existence  on  the 
globe,  by  virtue  of  our  intellectual  power  and  the  superior 
intelligence  with  which  we  are  endowed.  Even  the  Atheist 
and  Agnostic  admit  that  from  some  power  existing  antecedent 
to  our  own  existence  we  have  received  life  and  all  the  happi- 
ness and  possibilities  of  happiness  which  human  life  implies. 
The  honest  man  of  science,  determined  if  possible,  come  what 
may,  to  ascertain  the  real  nature  and  inward  truth  of  things, 
takes  his  powerful  magnifying  telescope,  and  looks  over  and 
under  and  around  the  sun  and  stars  and  discovers  no  God  like 
the  One  of  whom  so  much  has  been  spoken  and  written.  No 
Brobdingnagian  personal  God  presents  himself  to  his  senses, 
which  are  his  honest  and  truthful  body  and  mind  servants 
faithfully  portraying  everything  visible  in  nature.  The  man 

163 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE   PAST.   L'RKSKXT  AXI)  IT'TlKi:. 

of  science  sees  nothing1  in  his  search  but  vast  globes  of  organ- 
ized matter  and  the  thin  air  of  space.  "  Where  "  he  ask>  ••  is 
your  personal  God,  whom  you  insist  \ve  sliould  all  love  and 
worship?  Let  us  first  find  him  and  then  we  can  better  decide 
about  the  worship  due  him.  I  see  nothing  but  nature  "  he  says. 
"I  recognize  a  persistent  force.  I  recognize  evolution,  adapt- 
ation, unchangeable  laws  and  principles!  I  recognize  evil  in 
the  world.  Nature  is  beautiful  and  nature  is  also  hideous.  If 
your  God  is  wise  and  beneficent,  why  is  it  that  the  cruel  and 
the  hideous  exist  in  nature?  If  all  animals  are  irresponsible 
and  innocent,  why  are  they  constituted  so  that  they  prey  upon 
and  devour  each  other?  By  what  principle  of  justice  has 
organized  existence  been  created  so  that  the  stronger  shall 
always  destroy  and  oppress  the  weaker?  If  life  is  good,  why 
is  death,  which  is  bad,  allowed  to  supervene  and  destroy  it? 
Why,  as  Mr.  Ingersoll  asks,  has  not  health  been  made  catch- 
ing instead  of  disease?  " 

Such  questions  as  these  are  often  put  by  men  of  intelli- 
gence and  by  those  who  have  themselves  attained  a  respecta- 
ble and  influential  position  in  society.  They  seem  to  feel  with 
Bolingbroke  that  had  they  been  at  the  Almighty's  shoulders 
when  the  world  was  created,  they  might  have  given  him  some 
valuable  hints  towards  the  improvement  of  the  constitution 
of  things!  Now  fortunately  our  Heavenly  Father  is  not  of 
an  irascible  disposition  or  such  critics  might  be  punished  for 
their  audacity.  As  it  is  they  are  left  to  enjoy  life  and  all  the 
blessings  of  an  existence  they  criticise,  as  fully  as  if  they  were 
only  grateful  for  those  blessings. 

164 


KKLK'ilONS   OF   TJ I  K    PAST.   FRKSKXT   AND    I-T'Tl'RE. 

But  pleasantly  apart,  all  the  ([iiestions  put  by  thoughtful 
men,  all  the  criticisms  such  men  make  upon  the  character  of 
(iod  and  the  constitution  of  nature,  should  be  considered  and 
replied  to  if  possible  by  those  who  believe  in  the  existence  of 
a  wise  and  beneficent  (iod  who  u  doeth  all  things  well."  By 
virtue  of  the  liberty  with  which  we  are  endowed  we  have  a 
right  to  criticise  and  to  inquire1  freely  concerning  God  and  His 
Providence. 

I   hold  firmly  the   belief  in   the    wisdom   and   kindness   of 
God,  but  I  hold  it  to  be  utterly  impossible  that  the  system  of 
religion  known  as  Christianity  and  now  accepted  by  many  sin- 
cere Christians   can   be  true!     I  believe  that  the  dogmas  of 
Christianity    in  many   ways   vilify  and  libel  the  character    of 
God.     These  dogmas  of  Orthodox  Christianity  represent  God 
as  inferior  in   morals,  in    the   sense  of  dignity,   and   in    the 
principle  of  justice,  to  man  himself.     Has  not  God  Himself 
established  the  laws  of  kindness,  love  and   affection   in    our 
human  relations,  as  parents  and  children?     The  mother  in  her 
love  to  her  offspring  is  only  the  agent  of  the  power  and  will 
behind  her.     God  in  his  power  and  character  is  the  Paterma- 
ternal  Parent  of  us  all !     All  of  good  in  us  witnesses  to  the 
greater   good  in   Him.     Yet  Christians  in  their  creeds  have 
represented  God  as  so  inferior  to  man  in  justice  and  kindness 
that  he  has  created  mankind  totally   depraved,  that  he    has 
made  a  hell  to  put  them  in;  not  to  enlighten  and  reform  them 
but  to  torture  them !     These  creeds  further  represent  God  as 
establishing  a  heaven,  for  those  who  believe  in  these  dogmas; 
thus  rewarding  only  those  who  believe  Him  to  be  cruel  and 

165 


RELIGIONS   OF   THE   PAST,    PRESENT   AND    FUTURE. 

unjust!  This  picture  is  not  overdrawn,  it  is  the  exact  truth; 
and  in  the  past  ages  when  men  really  believed  these  dogmas 
and  burned  and  tortured  thousands  of  fellow  creatures  for  not 
believing  them,  they  did  not  by  their  persecutions  for  religious 
opinions  represent  human  will  or  human  character,  they  repre- 
sented the  supposed  will  ot  their  cruel  God,  anticipating  the 
time  of  everlasting  punishment  of  unbelievers. 

It  is  true  that  these  harsh  doctrines  have  softened  and  are 
still  softening.  Slow,  however,  are  the  changes  in  mental  prog- 
ress. It  is  strange  that  mothers  looking  upon  their  own 
beautiful  children  have  not  long  ago  given  the  lie  to  the  doc- 
trine of  "  total  depravity."  The  truth  is,  nothing  depraved 
ever  has  come  or  ever  will  come  from  the  hand  of  God. 

There  is  no  more  sense  in  pronouncing  man  in  an  unculti- 
vated state  to  be  totally  depraved,  than  there  would  be  in  a 
gardener  calling  a  wild  apple  tree  or  grape-vine  or  a  puny 
strawberry  totally  depraved.  They  are  simply  undeveloped. 
Cultivate  them!  Evolve  them  through  the  human  mind  by 
delightful  healthful  toil  and  care;  so  shall  you  bring  them  to 
perfection.  Throughout  all  nature  this  principle  holds  good, 
and  man  is  no  exception  to  the  universal  rule  that  cultivation 
and  training  develop  toward  perfection,  and  that  the  natural 
state  if  deficient  is  not  depraved,  but  simply  undeveloped. 

If  God  had  finished  all  things  to  a  state  of  perfection^ 
there  would  have  been  nothing  left  for  man  to  do ;  nothing  on 
which  to  exercise  our  activities.  God  has  not  given  us  a  hard 
task  in  placing  us  here  to  finish  up  and  perfect  things  in  this 
world.  Self-reliance  and  labor  in  every  department  of  useful- 

166 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE   PAST.  PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

ness  is  really  a  delightful  privilege.  Comprehending  these 
great  Divine  principles  let  every  one  work,  in  some  sphere  of 
usefulness. 

The  world  is  full  of  things  unfinished  and  imperfect.  Man 
is  kindly  permitted  to  finish  and  perfect  these;  or  he  may,  by 
virtue  of  the  liberty  with  which  he  is  endowed,  retrograde  and 
mar.  Man  is  permitted  to  fix  himself  stubbornly,  to  the 
extent  of  his  power,  in  ignorance.,  in  superstition  and  in 
vice.  And  he  may  organize  himself  in  collective  capacity  to 
sustain  and  to  perpetuate  systems  of  religions  which  are  out- 
grown and  false. 

After-ages  will  recognize  as  we  cannot,  the  pettiness  of  the 
Christian  theology  which  has  prevailed  for  so  many  centuries, 
and  by  which  men  have  estimated  the  mind  and  character  of 
God  by  the  tape-measure  of  a  narrow  ideal.  And  to  some  of 
us  it  is  already  shown  to  be  false  and  mischievous. 

But,  as  I  said  before,  it  is  permitted  to  man  to  organize  for 
the  support  of  many  institutions  which  have  outlived  their 
real  usefulness.  Many  millions  of  dollars  have  been  spent  in 
the  building  of  Christian  churches,  many  of  which  are  beauti- 
ful as  well  as  costly  structures.  On  a  door  within  the  chapel 
I  have  built,  are  these  words :  "  Organized  error  is  more  pow- 
erful than  unorganized  truth."  I  intended  by  these  words  to 
convey  the  idea  that  human  liberty  permits  us  to  organize, 
propagate  and  sustain  erroneous  systems  of  religion  and  gov- 
ernment. This  we  do  by  material  aid,  by  education,  by  burn- 
ing as  it  were,  into  the  minds  of  children  a  belief  in  certain 
doctrines  which  we  teach  them  are  essential  to  their  well- 

167 


RELIGIONS  OF  Till-:   PAST.    I'KKSKXT   AM)  FUTl'RK. 

being  here  and  hereafter.  By  thus  teaching  that  the  accept- 
ance of  certain  opinions  is  a  saving  virtue  how  easily  inav  anv 
system  be  impressed  upon  confiding1  children.  The  */"•<•<•**, 
then,  of  any  system  of  belief  is  no  criterion  of  its  truth!  As 
an  example  of  this  fact  I  would  refer  the  Christian  believer  to  the 
multitudes  who  worship  what  to  him  are  false  gods,  and  believe 
in  what  to  him  are  false  systems  of  religion.  Unless  we  use 
the  reason  and  reflecting  powers  with  which  we  are  endowed 
to  correct  erroneous  views  of  religion,  morality,  justice  in 
government  and  so  on,  we  shall  always  be  subjected  to  error. 
The  evils  of  error  can  never  be  measured  save  by  the  new 
truth  which  is  revealed.  And  we  may  well  ask  with  Festus  of 
old:  "  What  is  truth?  "  One  fixed  fact  is  that  truth  is  of  slow 
development,  and  its  progress  must  be  measured  by  the  growth 
and  influence  of  reason  and  experience.  We  are  now  in  a 
transition  state;  and  it  is  as  true  to  say  that  we  have  always 
been  in  a  transition  state.  No  human  organization  or  decree 
can  prevent  the  progress  of  the  human  mind;  but  ignorance 
and  superstition  do  retard  that  progress.  The  idea  of  God,  of 
a  Higher  Power  than  man,  will  I  believe  never  be  eradicated 
from  the  mind  of  man;  but  by  the  trailing  and  cultivation  of 
reason  and  science  that  idea  is  becoming  enlarged  and  refined 
as  man  progresses  in  intelligence  and  civilization.  It  has 
already  become  perceptibly  refined  and  enlarged  from  the  old 
and  grosser  forms  of  the  Christian  faith;  and  all  the  founda- 
tions of  that  faith  are  being  examined  and  tested;  and  slowly 
but  surely  the  sunlight  of  the  truths  of  science  will  dispel  the 
clouds  of  misconception  and  error  which  now  obscure  the  real 

168 


RELIGIONS  OF  Till-:  PAST.    PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

truths  in  the  Christian  system.  Surely  wo  are  justified  in 
looking  for  progress  lowai'd  perfection  in  all  things  appertain- 
ing to  humanilv,  in  our  religious  views  and  systems  of  i'aitli, 
as  well  as  in  all  other  departments  of  human  thought  and 
activity. 

In  our  day  and  generation,  however,  while  error  is  com- 
fortably housed,  the  naked  truth  may  be  often  found  outside 
shivering  in  the  cold  of  neglect.  This  is  illustrated  by  the 
condition  of  many  religious  societies.  The  older  members  of 
Orthodox  Christian  societies  will  tell  you,  if  you  suggest  the 
adoption  on  their  pail  of  newly  discovered  truths,  "  Oh,  our 
minds  are  already  made  up.  All  we  know,  and  all  we  want 
to  know,  is  Christ  and  Him  crucified.  We  hope  and  believe 
that  we  are  washed  clean  from  sin  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. 
We  must  believe  all  that  we  find  in  the  Sacred  Book."  If  yon 
ask  such  an  old-time  believer:  "Do  you  believe  in  'election?' 
in  '  foreordination? '  in  heaven,  hell,  and  in  'salvation  by 
faith  '  and  not  by  good  works?  "  he  will  answer  if  he  is  honest 
and  true  to  the  convictions  burnt  into  his  soul  by  severe  but 
kind  parents,  and  by  ministers  in  whose  learning  and  judg- 
ment he  has  always  confided,  "Yes,  I  believe;  God  save  me 
from  unbelief  and  from  the  awful  fate  of  the  unbeliever!  " 

To  my  thought,  no  more  than  you  or  I,  reader,  was  Christ 
especially  divine  or  supernatu rally  inspired.  A  greater  or 
less  sense  of  what  is  good  and  just  is  the  gift  of  every  human 
being  not  born  an  idiot.  And  this  sense  of  the  right  and  true 
may  be  called  inspiration,  and  may  be  said  to  be  divine,  since 
all  human  powers  are  of  divine  origin.  Christ  was  only  a 

169 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  PRESENT  AND  FITUKE. 

man,  as  we  are  men,  inspired  to  do  good  to  the  extent  of  his 
intelligence.  And  no  man  should  believe  the  absurd  story  of 
the  "Immaculate  Conception,"  which  seeks  to  make  of  this 
good  and  great  man  a  bastard  demigod. 

Such  a  story  of  Christ's  birth  is  not  only  a  libel  upon  God's 
character,  but  helps  to  perpetuate  the  doctrine  of  the  total 
depravity  of  children  born  in  the  natural  way,  and  is  therefore 
also  a  libel  upon  the  dignity  of  human  nature  itself. 

The  religion  of  reason  and  common  sense  which  I  advo- 
cate, is,  in  my  opinion,  a  thousand  times  superior  to  the 
Christian  system  of  theology  which  thus  begins  with  the 
total  depravity  of  man  and  ends  with  maligning  the  character 
of  God  Himself ! 

Children  are  born  inexperienced,  not  "  depraved,"  and 
they  have  a  natural  right  to  better  teachings  than  Christian 
parents  and  teachers  generally  give  them.  As  soon  as  chil- 
dren can  comprehend  anything,  they  are  charged  to  love  God 
and  worship  Christ,  and  believe  the  Bible  as  a  Divine  rule  of 
life,  and  unite  themselves  with  other  sheep  in  the  Christian 
fold.  And  they  are  promised  if  they  will  do  this,  immor- 
tality in  a  literal  heaven  somewhere  in  the  skies!  While 
if  they  refuse  the  acceptance  of  these  doctrines,  they  are 
threatened  with  a  fiery  hell  in  another  fixed  locality! 

These  errors  are  not  peculiar  to  the  Christian  religion. 
All  the  religions  of  the  world  seem  to  have  had  their  birth 
and  early  development  in  ignorance  and  superstition. 


170 


RELIGIONS  OF   THI-:   PAST.    PRESENT  ANT)   FUTURE. 


WANTED:   A  BETTER  SYSTEM  OF  RELIGION. 


To  create  a  sort  of  faith  or  conviction  in  the  minds  of  the 
unthinking  and  confiding  it  is  only  necessary  to  assert  posi- 
tively and  frequently,  that  such  and  such  doctrines  are  true. 
Iteration  and  reiteration  are  the  only  levers  necessary  to 
produce  belief  or  unbelief  in  the  masses  of  mankind.  "  Why," 
asks  one,  '•  if  what  passes  for  the  truths  of  Christianity  are 
really  errors,  why  are  they  so  universally  believed?"  If  we 
reflect  a  little,  we  shall  see  that  the  methods  used  to  impress 
the  faith  of  Christian  creeds  upon  the  minds  of  the  people  are 
sufficient  to  account  for  the  fixedness  of  that  faith.  The  same 
methods  would,  and  do,  fix  the  creeds  of  Mohammedanism  and 
all  other  systems  of  theological  belief  which  have  been  organ- 
ized in  institutions. 

Although  there  are  some  truths  stated  in  the  Bible  of  the 
Christians  which  will  endure  to  the  end  of  mankind,  and 
which  no  evolution  or  progress  will  wipe  out,  yet  the  origin 
of  the  Christian  system  of  theology  is  human,  and  that  system 
has  been  founded  in  ignorance  and  superstition  like  the 
systems  of  other  religions.  One  of  the  puerilities  of  the 
Christian  system  is  to  attach  merit  to  belief  and  demerit  to 
unbelief  of  its  dogmas.  A  believing  or  an  unbelieving  state  of 

171 


RELIGIONS  OF  Till-:   PAST,   PRKSEXT  AM)   ITTl  RK. 

mind  respecting  a  given  principle  is  involuntary.  Our  beliel'-. 
are  made  iij)  from  evidences  presented  to  oui1  reason  and 
experience,  of  the  truth  or  falsity  of  ideas.  \Ve  should  there- 
fore condemn  no  honest  believer  for  his  opinions,  but  should 
simply  condemn  what  seem  to  us  the  errors  of  any  system  of 
faith  we  oppose.  As  I  have  elsewhere  written  and  now 
repeat,  "  God's  approving  smile  is  never  withheld  from  the 
consciousness  of  those  who  sincerely  believe  and  teach  the 
best  they  know/'  It  matters  not  whether  they  believe  and 
teach  error  or  truth;  it  is  the  honest  it  dent  of  the  mind  and 
heart  which  God  regards.  With  this  principle  in  view  it 
should  be  easy  and  natural  for  the  Christian  to  take  the  honest 
infidel  by  the  hand,  as  also  for  the  Atheist  and  Agnostic  to 
fraternize  with  the  Christian.  This  is  true  charity  and  should 
be  one  of  the  guiding  principles  of  human  action.  Surely, 
to  ascertain  our  true  relations  with  God,  and  to  seek  to  per- 
form the  duties  which  grow  out  of  these  relations,  is  all  that 
God  or  man  requires  of  any  of  ns.  And  as  the  interest  of 
all  requires  that  the  best  guiding  principles  in  all  our  relations 
with  God  and  man  should  be  adhered  to,  so  far  as  we  know 
them,  all  should  be  willing  to  meet  amicably  on  the  common 
ground  of  reflection,  investigation  and  kindness.  We  should 
consider  without  dogmatism  these  questions  respecting  reli- 
gion which  are  of  the  highest  import  and  interest  both  to 
ourselves  and  to  our  children. 

We  must  decide  these  great  questions  concerning  the 
character  of  God  and  our  relations  to  Him,  and  the  sentiments 
we  should  cherish  and  express  toward  Him,  by  the  light  of  our 

172 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE   PAST,   PRESENT  AND   FUTURE. 

mental  constitution.  We  have  to  judge  of  all  thing's  in  this 
world  l>y  human  faculties  more  or  less  enlightened  hv  reason 
and  common  sense.  1>\  these  tots,  I  dare  to  judge  of  the 
Christian  system  of  theology;  and  where  it  seems  to  conflict 
with  the  revelations  of  God's  character  in  outward  nature,  to 
condemn  that  system  as  erroneous. 

I  wish  it  to  be  understood,  however,  that  I  do  not  in  the 
least  impugn  the  sincerity  or  the  character  of  Christians! 
Many,  perhaps  most  of  them,  have  a  higher  standard  of  prac- 
tical morality  than  is  logically  justified  by  the  character  of  the 
God  they  have  pictured  in  their  theologies.  And  I  would 
suggest  to  all  the  liberal-minded  who  have  ventured  to  criti- 
cise the  Christian  theology,  that  if  it  were  possible  to  close 
the  Christian  churches  on  account  of  the  errors  therein 
taught,  such  a  course  would  not  be  desirable! 

In  all  natural  processes,  which  are  divine  because  natural, 
changes  are  slow  and  in  consequence  more  sure  than  if  abrupt. 
This  law  of  gradual  change  is  seen  in  religious  as  in  all  other 
forms  of  human  development. 

Now  what  above  all  else  I  desire  to  see  in  those  now  in 
power  is  toleration.  It  is  toleration  I  seek  in  trying-  to  intro- 
duce my  own  ideas  of  religion,  which  are  simply  modifications 
of  the  prevailing  ones. 

When  the  prevailing  ideas  are  generally  modified  by 
enlightened  reason  and  common  sense,  there  will  be  great 
increase  in  churches  and  congregations,  and  the  glad  tidings 
of  a  better  religion  than  is  generally  known  will  be  received 
by  all  with  enthusiasm!  I  propose  a  platform  of  religious 

173 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE   PAST,   PRESENT  AM)  FUTURE. 

toleration  and   pure    morality    upon   which   all    can   .stand;   the 
Christian  and  the  atheist  and  the  philosopher  in  harmony. 

Meanwhile,  in  this  closing-  time  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
there  are  many  varieties  of  what  is  termed  "the  Orthodox 
Christian  faith.'7  It  is  not  dilliciilt  to  see  how  these  doctrines 
of  Orthodoxy  were  originated  and  how  they  kept  their  place 
of  command  for  so  many  centuries.  In  the  early  time,  when 
Christianity  was  born,  gods  of  many  kinds  and  qualities  were 
in  vogue  among  the  heathen  nations.  Christ  was  a  Jew  and 
it  was  not  strange  that  he  should  adopt  the  God  who  was 
idealized  by  his  ancestors;  a  single  God  whose  special  occu- 
pation it  was  to  look  after  the  interests  and  well-being  of  His 
chosen  people  the  Jews.  The  Jewish  God  was  the  type  of 
the  Jewish  mind,  hating  the  heathen  who  were  enemies  of  the 
Jews.  Christ  was  honest  in  character,  and  in  his  mind  these 
inherited  ideas  became  liberalized  to  a  certain  extent.  Per- 
haps he  grew  broader  in  spirit  and  in  thought  by  contact  with 
the  more  philosophic  minds  of  his  day  outside  of  his  own 
people.  We  learn  little  of  his  life  from  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures from  the  time  he  was  reported  to  have  talked  with  the 
wise  men  in  the  corridors  of  the  Temple,  when  he  was  a  boy 
of  twelve,  until  he  began  his  public  ministry  at  about  thirty. 
During  that  time  he  may  have  been  frequently  in  the  company 
of  the  most  intelligent  men  of  his  time.  Certainly  he  had 
somewhere  adopted  some  very  sensible  ideas  which  are  shown 
in  his  parables  and  sermons.  If  all  that  is  claimed  as  original 
with  him  could  be,  as  much  has  been,  shown  to  be  borrowed 
from  other  sources,  still  his  selection  of  such  thoughts  proves 

174 


RFLK.IOXS  OF  THE   PAST.   PRFSFXT  AND  FUTURE. 

his  wisdom  to  he  >uperior  to  that  possessed  by  his  followers. 
It  is  clear  that  Jesus  was  an  honest  man,  with  many  sensible 
ideas,  and.  with  a  good  judgment  and  a  good  heart.  Yet  the 
honest  investigator  must  discover  in  the  record  of  his  sayings 
and  his  life  many  eccentricities  and  impracticable  ideas.  It  is 
certain  thai  none  of  the  philosophers  and  sensible'  men  of  his 
day  entertained  his  idea  of  giving-  all  one's  money  away  and 
going  out  preaching  to  get  one's  living  by  begging  from 
others! 

And  I  know  of  no  Orthodox  merchants  or  successful 
Christians  of  to-day  who  follow  this  rule  of  life!  ~Nor  has 
Christ's  doctrine  of  "  non-resistance '"  to  evil  ever  been 
adopted  as  the  just  and  useful  rule  of  life  by  intelligent 
Christians.  I  do  not  believe  that  Christ  ever  taught  the  fear- 
ful doctrine  of  hell-fire  and  eternal  punishment,  for  that  doc- 
trine is  utterly  at  variance  with  all  that  we  know  of  his  kind 
and  loving  and  just  character.  It  is  probable  that  all  these 
devilish  characteristics  of  the  Christian  theology  were  inter- 
polations and  misunderstandings  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus.  It 
is  easier  to  believe  that  the  sacrifice  of  accumulated  riches 
for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  originated  with  Jesus  himself, 
for  that  doctrine  conveys  the  idea  of  charity,  which  was  his 
strongest  point  in  preaching.  And  he  by  his  own  action  in 
forsaking  the  ordinary  paths  of  industry  and  honest  labor, 
and  depending  upon  the  charity  of  others  while  he  went 
about  preaching,  endorsed  a  manner  of  life  which  in  our  day 
well-to-do  Christians  would  condemn.  I  think  we  should 
house  in  our  reformatories  and  police  stations  those  who  tried 

175 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  PRESENT  AND   FUTURE. 

to  literally  obey  some  of  the  commands  of  Jesus  to-day. 
Although  modern  Christians  save  their  money,  and  do  not 
either  give  all  that  they  have  to  the  poor,  or  themselves 
become  begging  tramps,  it  is  no  doubt  true  that  these  teach- 
ings of  Jesus  respecting  property  led  to  the  "  mendicant 
orders,"  and  the  indolent  monkish  system,  and  many  other 
elements  of  ancient  Christianity  which  have  been  the  allies  of 
ignorance  and  superstition.  Governments,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  these  ancient  orders  of  Christianity  have  been  the 
means  of  sustaining  the  Church  by  forcing  the  laboring  man 
to  support  the  Church  and  all  its  idle  priests.  The  English 
Government,  it  will  be  remembered,  at  one  time  forced  the 
Irish  Catholics  to  pay  tithes  for  the  support  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  addition  to  the  dues  which  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  exacted  from  them. 

Recently  the  power  of  the  Government  has  been  less  and 
less  invoked  to  sustain  established  churches  by  oppressive 
exactions  from  the  people.  And  in  England,  France  and 
Germany  they  are  considering  the  question  how  to  do  away 
altogether  with  the  bond  between  Church  and  State. 

In  the  Constitution  of  these  United  States,  the  Christian 
religion,  as  well  as  all  others,  is  nominally  ignored;  and  yet 
we  have  in  Congress  our  chaplains  who  pray  over  the  misera- 
ble sinners  who  represent  us!  Our  public  Thanksgivings 
are  commendable;  may  they  exist  forever!  In  a  true  and 
scientific  religion,  such  as  the  writer  would  like  to  help 
inaugurate,  the  Gospel  of  Gratitude  will,  I  think,  be  one  of 
the  corner-stones.  Humble  acknowledgments  and  gratitude 

176 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,   PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

to    the   true    God    for    the    all-comprising   gift   of   life  will   be 
forever  in  order. 

The  principles  of  a  truly  >cientiiic  religion  would  enable 
all  mankind  to  stand  on  the  same  platform.  It  would  be  a 
religion  that  every  government  might  aid  and  ally  itself  with, 
in  perfect  safety.  It  would  be  one  which  even  the  secular 
schools  could  adopt,  and  teach  its  principles  in  a  way  to  honor 
God  and  dignity  man. 


177 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 


CLOUDS  BREAKING. 


Occasionally  a  faint  gleam  of  light  pierces  through  the 
clouds  which  enshroud  the  religious  world,  and  even  reaches 
to  the  theological  seminaries.  If  the  principle  of  "  Pro- 
gressive Orthodoxy''  be  suffered  to  exist,  it  will  be  like  a 
spark  of  fire  applied  to  the  theological  rubbish  accumulated 
since  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era,  which  in  time 
by  a  little  incautious  fanning  by  such  men  as  Professors  Smith 
and  Harris  and  others,  would  raise  a  bonfire  that  would 
destroy  all  the  irrationalities  and  false  gods  of  the  Orthodox 
Church,  leaving  only  good  and  true  principles,  and  a  true 
God,  which,  however  hidden  by  the  thick  fogs  of  superstition, 
may  become  mentally  visible  and  can  never  be  destroyed. 

The  Conservatives  are  right!  It  will  not  do  to  send  among 
the  heathen,  missionaries  with  humane  feelings  which  they 
dare  to  express !  Their  "  Prudential  Committees "  must  not 
sleep  at  their  posts.  No  man  in  the  employ  of  an  Orthodox 
organization  must  be  allowed  to  think  or  to  fight  on  his  own 
hook,  from  behind  a  tree,  as  did  the  grandfather  of  Theodore 
Parker  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  All  must  be  regularly 
enlisted  and  marked  with  the  true  label.  There  is  no  way  of 
salvation  except  through  Christ,  according  to  the  Orthodox 
system;  and  the  idea  that  there  may  be  a  chance  for  any  one 
of  the  millions  of  heathen  to  be  saved  just  because  he  could 

178 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE   PAST.   PRESENT  AND   EUTTRE. 

by  no  |)ossil)ility  have  heard  of  Christ,  is  dangerous  to  the 
system!  If  there  is  humanity  in  the  idea  of  hope  for  the  poor 
heathen,  that  does  not  save  it  from  condemnation  on  theologie 
grounds. 

By  the  persevering  efforts  of  the  clergy  the  devotion  to 
old  faiths  is  kept  alive.  And  since  the  authorities  of  the 
Orthodox  Diviuitv  Schools  forbid  the  learning  and  teaching  of 
any  essentially  new  truth  in  religion,  a  large  class  of  the  clergy 
reiterates  constantly  the  old  ideas.  However  it  is  now  begin- 
ning to  be  seen,  that  both  Christian  teachers  and  all  others  who 
occupy  the  position  of  public  instructors  are  properly  subject 
to  criticism.  They  are  pre-eminently  in  a  position  to  have 
their  principles  and  statements  fairly  examined  by  all  whom 
they  address. 

Our  Christian  friends  are  thoroughly  organized  all  over 
the  civilized  world.  Their  teaching  is  given  systematically 
and  persistently.  And  their  standard  of  belief  is  made  the 
touchstone  of  holiness  by  vast  numbers  of  worshippers. 

Yet  the  question  is  being  asked  in  many  quarters,  shall  we 
not  have  a  new  and  better  religion  ? 

If  we  need  any  God  at  all,  we  need  a  generous,  kind  and 
protecting1  one!  We  need  a  God  who  in  respect  to  the  large 
family  of  man  which  covers  our  beautiful  earth,  stands  in  the 
same  relation  to  all  of  us  as  kind  parents  stand  in  relation  to 
their  children.  I  believe  firmly  in  the  existence  of  such  a 
God  and  Father  of  us  all. 

And  if  we  are  to  have  a  new  and  grander  religion  to  fit 
such  a  conception  of  God,  shall  we  build  fresh  from  the 

179 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST.   PRESENT  AND   FUTURE. 

foundation,  or  shall  we  seek   to   remodel    the   old    structure   of 
Christianity  now  in  a  state  of  decay  V 

Before  we  answer  that  question  it  is  well  to  consider  the 
fate  of  those  within  the  Orthodox  Christian  family  who  have 
sought  to  change  the  shape  of  the  old  home.  Some  have  con- 
ceived the  notion  that  the  Christian  faith  would  be  strength- 
ened if  some  of  its  old  creeds  were  humanized.  For  instance, 
some  have  been  bold  enough  to  express  the  hope  that  the 
souls  of  the  ancestors  of  the  heathen  might  possibly  be  saved 
by  the  blood  of  Christ  if  they  could  not  possibly  have  heard 
of  him!  And  these  members  of  the  Orthodox  family  were  for 
this  monstrous  heresy  promptly  hauled  up  for  trial  and  con- 
demned. And  it  seems  to  be  the  wish  of  many  to  put  such 
guilty  doubters  out  of  the  homestead. 

It  seems  therefore  that  the  leaders  of  the  Christian  organi- 
zation would  not  give  much  co-operation  to  any  attempt  to 
change  the  old  tabernacle.  A  few  half-fledged  sceptics  within 
the  fold  of  the  church  would  welcome  any  attempt  to  awaken 
attention  to  a  new  and  better  belief.  But  the  clergymen  have 
too  many  interests  at  stake  to  welcome  any  change.  By 
strenuous  efforts  in  the  Sunday  School,  and  in  the  sermons  for 
adults  and  children,  they  seek  to  bring  their  flocks  to  a  belief 
of,  or  at  least  to  a  passive  assent  to  the  most  essential  points 
of  the  old  creed. 

But  let  us  glance  at  the  old  structure,  examine  its  timbers, 
take  note  of  its  foundation,  the  size  of  its  rooms,  and  decide 
if  in  its  entirety  it  be  large  enough  to  accommodate  and 
satisfy  the  whole  human  family,  now  and  in  the  future.  I 

180 


RELIGION'S  OF   THE    CAST,   PRESENT  ANT)   I-TTURE. 

think,  if  \ve  aiv  hoiie-t  and  intelligent,  we  must  decide  that 
the  -uper>t  nid  ure  of  Christianit  y.  with  its  many  decayed 
timbers,  must  he  replaced  l>v  a  more  >olid  and  comfortable 
religious  home.  And  to  accomplish  this  end  it  must  he 
decidedly  modified  from  the  old  edifice. 

It  is  in  our  own  power  to  decide1  whether  or  not  we  will 
worship  in  a  new  religious  edifice  with  new  principles:  or  by 
sensible  change.--,  modify  gradually  the  principles  of  our  own 
time-honored  temples  of  religion.  This  position  if  taken  by 
the  advocates  of  prevailing  religions  would  be  reasonable, 
and  all  that  any  earnest,  sincere  man,  holding  to  what  he 
believes  to  be  higher  motives  and'  aims,  should  reasonably 
desire.  Preliminary  to  this  work  of  repairing  and  remodeling 
an  old  building  which  was  in  many  respects  badly  planned  at 
first,  it  would  be  well  to  submit  it  in  every  part  to  a  thorough 
examination.  Doubtless,  as  many  think,  it  was  the  very  best 
house  that  could  have  been  built  at  the  period  it  was  erected. 
But  if  it  was  originally  built  upon  a  rock  the  foundation  must 
have  been  the  sandstone  of  sentiment,  soft  and  easily  dis- 
integrated, and  not  the  granite  of  scientific  truth.  For 
the  fact  is,  this  old  temple  is  shaky,  and  in  parts  mildewed 
and  decayed.  In  spite  of  the  gold  and  silver  preservatives 
which  have  been  constantly  applied,  the  large  and  respect- 
able family  of  present  occupants  show  constant  anxiety 
respecting  its  durability.  "  Prudential  Committees "  are 
called  in  alarm  to  prevent  the  further  loosening  of  the  tim- 
bers which  hold  the  frame  together.  But  in  spite  of  their 
watchfulness  the  work  of  decay  goes  on ! 

181 


RELIGIONS   OF   THE    PAST.   PRESENT  AND   FUTURE. 

Let  us  retain  all  of  good  and  of  truth  which  Christianity 
contains  and  let  us  endeavor  to  eliminate  all  of  the  error.  Let 
us  retain  all  of  the  humane  and  intelligent  in  Christ  or  in  any 
other  good  man,  and  eliminate  all  the  erroneous  pretentious  to 
his  divinity.  There  must  be  something  divine  in  the  human, 
however,  since  in  his  nature  and  constitution  man  is  the  con- 
ception of  a  Divine  mind.  But  as  compared  with  God's 
intelligence  and  goodness  man's  mind  and  heart  are  but  as 
drops  of  water  compared  to  the  ocean.  Xay,  they  may  be 
likened  to  the  drops  in  the  dirt,  or  the  moisture  of  mud,  which 
must  be  drawn  up  and  purified  by  the  sun  and  the  atmosphere 
of  Divine  influences,  before  they  become  like  the  pure  drops 
of  water  which  fall  into  the  ocean. 

When  we  shall  have  attained  to  a  knowledge  of  our  true 
relations  with  the  higher  powers  we  shall  look  back  with 
astonishment  to  the  ideas  of  God  which  prevail  in  our  day. 
When  that  time  comes  all  monstrous  idealizations  of  God's 
character,  such  as  now  are  presented  for  our  acceptance  will 
have  forever  passed  away.  Then  all  selfish,  useless  prayers 
will  have  ceased,  and  grateful  acknowledgements  will  have 
taken  their  place  in  our  temples  of  worship. 

Meanwhile,  simultaneously  with  tearing  down  the  false  in 
the  Christian  temple  of  faith,  we  should  build  up  the  truth. 
It  is  better  to  be  sheltered  somewhere,  if  in  a  poor  house, 
than  to  be  in  the  open  air,  subjected  to  storms  and  miasma 
and  such  sufferings  as  often  destroy  life.  Let  the  whole 
family  of  true  believers  unite  and  reconstruct  as  fast  as  it  can, 
since  the  old  house  is  so  badly  demolished!  Let  us  organize 

182 


KKLIGIONS  OF  THF   PAST.   PRESENT  AND   FUTURE. 

to  finish  tin1  new  structure  as  fa>t  as  the  old  is  removed.  Let 
us  do  this  as  soon  as  we  can,  and  the  best  we  may.  A  part 
of  the  family  who  should  he  workers  and  reconst  ructors.  now 
stand  idle  with  their  arms  folded,  criticising  and  pointing  out 
the  rotten  timbers  and  poor  materials  of  the  house.  How 
much  better  employed  would  thev  be  in  selecting1  solid  mate- 
rials for  the  repairs,  in  holding'  up  the  new  joists  until  some 
master-builder  stavs  and  braces  them  together!  Only  by 

»  CD  t/  «/ 

united  effort  can  we  finish  the  new  temple  of  faith.  Being1 
unable  to  join  conscientiously  any  of  the  prevailing1  religious 
organizations,  are  the  critics  therefore  justified  in  doing  noth- 
ing—  are  there  no  duties  for  the  intelligent  Radical  to  per- 
form? Pie  sees  organized  error  and  the  success  of  it  ;  if 
the  influence  of  organized  error  is  so  powerful  cannot  we 
legitimately  entertain  the  hope  and  belief  that  organizations 
for  teaching  simple  truths,  a  true  religion  embracing  all  our 
duties  would  be  successful  ?  I  believe  it. 

To  Unitarians,  rather  than  to  Free  Keligious  Societies,  so 
called,  do  we  look  for  aid  in  this  reconstructive  work.  On 
them  we  fix  our  hopes  of  arriving  at  a  knowledge  of  the 
noble  guiding  principles  of  a  pure  and  simple  religious  belief, 
such  as  I  hope  will  some  day  be  universally  adopted.  The  Free 
Religious  Societies  seem  to  me  to  have  no  future  unless  they 
can  change  the  basis  of  their  organization;  and  no  religion  r 
that  is,  if  we  define  religion  to  be  the  duties  growing  out 
of  our  relations  with  God.  The  Free  Religious  ministers 
teach  morality  and  nothing  more.  It  seems  to  me  a  misuse 
of  terms  for  them  to  retain  the  name  of  "  religion,"  which 

183 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  PRESENT  AND   FUTURE. 

means  to  them  .simply  thinking'  as  one  pleases  on  all  matters 
appertaining  to  God  and  religion.  Individualism  is  with 
them  the  great  principle.  Members  are  at  liberty  to  believe 
in  a  God  or  not-  So  it  has  come  to  pass  that  God  is  not 
acknowledged  by  them.  Agnosticism  prevails  among  them. 
They  do  believe  in  a  religion  of  pure  morality  and  teach  it. 
But  religion  is  not  morality  alone.  As  a  body  they  are 
honest  and  intelligent:  but  so  far  as  any  fixed  principles  are 
concerned  the  Free  Religionist  may  be  considered  an  intel- 
lectual groper  floundering  in  uncertainties.  "  lint  "  asks  one 
of  them,  "  have  we  not  abandoned  the  popular  churches  of 
the  day  "  ?  Yes,  granted,  and  your  coming  out  from  them  is 
a  proof  of  your  intelligence.  But  you  have  only  retreated 
from  the  errors  and  heathenisms  of  the  popular  churches; 
and  I  wish  to  emphasize  that  w^ord  "  retreat "  for  it  signifies 
a  backward  movement.  You  are  indeed  all  out  of  many 
errors  and  well  out.  But  have  you  advanced  into  new  truths? 
You  have  abandoned  old  faiths;  where  are  your  settled  truths 
to  replace  them?  "  But  "  says  another,  "  we  are  still  search- 
ing for  them."  Let  us  hope  that  your  search  will  be  crowned 
with  success! 

As  to  the  members  of  the  Free  Religious  Societies  they  are 
worthy  of  all  confidence.  And  for  myself,  although  I  have 
never  joined  the  Free  Religious  Society,  I  have  tried  to  assist 
it  in  a  modest  way.  A  society  that  believes  in  fraternity  and 
pure  morality  should  and  must  be  honored  and  respectable, 
and  sooner  or  later  may  become  a  religious  society.  And  at 
present  it  is  much  more  pleasant  and  profitable  to  listen  to 

184 


REUNIONS  OF  Till-:   PAST.   PRESENT  AND  FUTURE, 
their  speakers  than  to  those   Orthodox  friends  whose  teaching 

o 

of  errors  makes  one  disturbed.  Let  us  imagine  a  conversation 
between  an  outsider  ol'  ordinary  intelligence  and  a  nieniber  of 
the  Free  Religions  Society: 

Stranger:     "  \Vhat   Christian  denomination  do  vou  belon<r 

J  O 

toV" 

Member:  "  No  Christian  denomination.  I  belong  to  the 
Free  Religious  Society  of  Providence.' 

Stranger:   "  \Vhat  is  your  creed  V" 

Member:  "  We  have  no  creed;  we  do  not  believe  in 
creeds." 

Stranger:  "  You  do  not  then  belong  to  any  Christian 
sect  V  " 

Member:  "Oh  no!  most  of  our  parents  were  Christians; 
but  our  minds  are  emancipated.  We  have  thought  ourselves 
out  from  the  errors  and  superstitions  of  the  old  creeds." 

Stranger:  "Have  you  replaced  the  Christian  creeds  by 
any  collection  of  principles  or  beliefs  by  which  you  consent  to 
be  guided?" 

Member:  "  ~No,  each  one  thinks  for  himself  independently 
of  any  other." 

Stranger :  "  You  are  then  purely  fragmentary,  with  no 
organization  whatever  ?  " 

Member:  "  We  are  organized  as  a  Free  Religious  Society, 
each  one  to  be  religious  in  his  own  way  as  he  understands  it. 
We  are  bound  by  no  written  code  of  principles,  creed,  or  arti- 
cles of  belief.  We  have  no  belief  in  common  as  to  what 
religion  is.  No  one  is  obligated  by  joining  the  society  to  be 

185 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,   PRESENT  AND   Fl'TURE. 

religious  at  all.     And  each  one  does  his  own  thinking  in  per- 
fect freedom." 

Stranger:  "  Would  it  not  be  well  to  drop  the  name  of 
'•Religions  Society,"  if  that  is  the  case,  and  substitute  the 
name  of"  The  Society  of  Free  and  Independent  Thinkers  V" 

Member:  "  We  have  chosen  the  name  of  "Free  Religious 
Society,"  but  we  can  vote  to  change  it  for  what  may  be  thought 
more  appropriate." 

Stranger:    "  You  meet  at  stated  times?  " 

Member:    "Yes,  as  a  rule  on  Sundays." 

Stranger:  "You  have  adopted  the  day  instituted  by  Jews 
and  Christians  then.  What  is  done  at  your  meetings  V  " 

Member:  "As  a  rule  we  hire  intelligent  men  to  address  us, 
to  present  their  best  thoughts  and  suggestions  upon  scientific, 
moral  and  religious  subjects." 

Stranger:  "A  very  excellent  object.  You  place  your- 
selves then  in  the  position  of  listeners  and  learners  ?  " 

Member:  "We  do!  each  member  by  his  own  process  of 
thinking  assimilates  what  he  considers  to  be  truth,  and  true 
principles,  as  the  speaker  presents  them." 

Stranger:  "Are  there  not  times  when  the  speakers  an- 
nounce or  present  a  truth  that  seems  to  meet  with  the  general 
approbation  of  the  Society  ?  " 

Member :  "  This  happens  not  infrequently.  And  we  dem- 
onstrate this  general  approval  by  gentle  plaudits." 

Stranger:  "  This  sentiment  of  general  approval  may  be 
considered  in  a  sense  an  adoption  of  the  truth  or  principle 
enunciated  by  the  speaker,  may  it  not?  " 

186 


REEIGIOXS   OF    THE    PAST.    PRESENT   AXD    FUTURE. 

Member:  "Undoubtedly!  we  store  our  minds  with  truths 
and  honest  convictions  of  intelligent  men." 

Stranger:  k>  Would  it  not  he  well  to  note  or  codify  the 
sentiments  or  principles  which  when  enunciated  by  your 
speaker  draw  from  the  assembled  Society  marks  of  approba- 
tion ?  " 

.Member:  "  Individualism  and  independence  of  thought 
are  the  prevailing  principles  which  we  approve.  The  con- 
demnation of  intolerance,  the  criticism  of  gross  errors  and 
superstitions,  and  the  inculcating  of  pure  morality  have  so  far 
been  our  aim;  this  rather  than  to  adopt  or  teach  any  system  of 
religion." 

In  my  opinion  the  most  effective  rebuke  we  can  make  in 
regard  to  the  errors  of  any  existing  system  of  religion  is  to 
conceive  of  and  bring  into  exercise  a  better  system.  I  be- 
lieve that  those  who  would  criticise  the  Christian's  God,  should 
introduce  and  recommend  for  worship  a  nobler  object  of  love 
and  honor. 

As  the  sun  enlightens  and  shines  upon  every  portion  of 
the  habitable  globe,  so  should  a  religion  blended  with  morality 
exist  that  should  irradiate  and  cheer  the  mind  and  heart  of  all 
mankind ! 

The  truth,  whatever  it  may  be,  should  be  the  aim  of  all  re- 
search and  reasoning;  and  any  religion  which  will  not  place 
the  truth  above  all  preconceived  ideas  will  not  suit  the  modern 
mind.  Truth  is  all  known  and  verified  fact.  Is  not  the  re- 
ligion we  are  seeking  for  a  religion  of  truth?  Of  course  new 
truths  will  be  constantly  developed  through  the  human  mind 

187 


RELIGIONS   OF   TIIF   FAST.    FRESFXT   AND   FT  TURK. 

by  time  and  experience,  and  all  new  truths  must  be  in  turn 
added  to  those  already  accepted  and  taught,  if  our  religion  is 
to  be  kept  pure. 

Both  religion  and  morality  must  recognize  this  important 
fact  of  the  growth  of  the  human  mind  through  new  discoveries 
of  truth.  And  in  the  exercise  of  the  religious  principles  which 
I  hope  to  see  initiated,  the  countenance  and  assent  of  the  hon- 
est and  thoughtful  men  of  science  will  be  by  no  means  neg- 
lected. 

True  religion  does  not  degrade!  No  sycophantic  abject- 
ness  is  called  for  by  God  in  His  relations  with  His  creatures. 
Our  true  relations  with  the  Higher  Power  demand  of  us  as  a 
point  of  honor  and  simple  justice  merely,  acknowledgments 
and  gratitude  for  the  gift  of  life,  and  for  all  the  happiness  and 
possibilities  of  happiness  we  enjoy  or  may  enjoy.  The  duties 
of  a  rational  religion  voluntarily  rendered  heighten  the  dignity 
of  man,  and  do  not  lessen  that  of  the  God  of  our  devotion. 
Our  liberty  is  not  interfered  with  by  this  Higher  Power. 
Nothing  is  required  of  us;  but  the  exercise  of  all  virtue,  com- 
prising all  sincere  religious  devotion,  is  a  human  privilege. 
The  intelligence  of  the  Christian  sects  has  not  yet  evolved  to 
the  point  of  comprehending  that  this  exercise  of  religious  senti- 
ments is  a  human  privilege  and  not  a  Divine  requirement.  It 
would  indeed  be  a  double  disaster  if  we  should  be  punished  for 
not  availing  ourselves  of  our  precious  religious  privileges, 
which  God  permits  us  either  to  enjoy  or  to  abstain  from. 

They  forget  that  man  can  only  regulate  and  perform  his 
duties  in  his  relations  to  God  by  the  exercise  of  the  same  human 

188 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE   PAST.   PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

faculties  of  reason  and  knowledge1  which  arc  given  him  to  ex- 
ercise in  his  relation^  with  his  1'ellow  creatures.  Truths,  or 
principles  and  laws,  ahvavs  existed:  and  man  through  the  nat- 
ural activitio  of  his  mind,  aided  by  his  si-uses,  has  the  power 
to  discover  them.  The  discovery  of  one  truth  is  the  stepping 
stone  to  the  discovery  of  another,  since  all  truth  is  joined  har- 
moniously together.  Man  has  discovered  much  of  truth;  what 
proportion  the  discovered  bears  to  the  undiscovered  no  one 
knows.  But  a  healthy  fair-minded  person  will  admit  that  the 
world  is  already  rich  in  its  natural  and  acquired  means  of  hap- 
piness and  knowledge.  Life  from  the  hand  of  our  Divine 
Father  has  always  been  "  worth  living "  from  the  beginning 
until  now.  And  it  hardly  can  be  called  Utopian  to  anticipate 
that  a  time  is  coming  when  machinery  will  be  perfected,  when 
the  fine  arts  will  be  followed  more  or  less  by  all,  as  interesting 
activities,  when  human  laws  supplementing  and  harmonizing 
with  the  Divine  right  shall  prevail,  when  cruel  wars  shall  cease 
and  nations  shall  be  governed  in  their  relations  to  each  other 
by  reason  and  an  enlightened  conscience ;  and,  I  may  add,  when 
railroads  shall  be  taken  from  the  hands  of  millionaires  and  run 
by  each  honest  government  for  the  use  of  the  people.  We 
look  forward  to  a  time  when  governments  shall  be  administered 
upon  the  same  principles  of  wisdom  and  justice  which  now  rule 
the  actions  of  cultivated  and  enlightened  men  and  women. 
And  above  all  we  look  forward  to  a  time  when  a  pure  religion, 
from  which  Pessimism  and  characterless  gods  shall  have  been 
eliminated,  shall  prevail;  and  the  true  God,  our  loving  Father, 
shall  be  understood.  Then  life  will  be  enjoyed  by  all.  Health, 

189 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST.  PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

cheap  living,  much  leisure  to  look  about  the  world  will  then  be 
enjoyed.  And  our  natural  activities  of  mind  and  body  maybe 
exercised  by  all,  in  accordance  with  the  individual  bent  of 
taste,  innocently  and  harmoniously.  Then  should  we-  gain  a 
more  blissful  Eden  than  any  imagined  lost  by  "  man's  fall."' 
All  these  attainments  are  easily  possible  through  ascertainment 
of  and  obedience  to  the  laws  of  God.  In  the  meantime  the 
anticipation  of  and  faith  in  this  better  time  of  the  future  will 
inspire  us  to  work  to  bring  about  these  happy  results. 


190 


KKLIGIONS   OF   Till:    PAST.    I'KKSKXT  AND   Fl'TURK. 


THOUGHTS   IN   REGARD  TO  A  NEW   RELIGION. 


If  the-  U-nii  "religion''  be  interpreted  as  meaning  the  per- 
formance of  all  the  duties  growing  out  of  our  relations  with 
Divine  Power,  the  first  question  to  be  asked  and  answered  is  : 
What  are  the  relations  between  God  and  man  V  And  the 
second  is:  What  are  the  duties  that  should  be  performed  in 
consequence  of  our  relations  with  God?  The  writer  in  no  way 
pretends  that  his  individual  views  and  convictions  in  regard  to 
what  he  considers  should  be  guiding  principles  in  religion  and 
morality  should  be  adopted  as  finalities.  There  have  been  no 
finalities  arrived  at  in  past  time  in  the  avowed  principles  of 
religion  and  morality.  And  no  man  can  see  further  than  his 
own  honest  reasonings,  and  what  seem  to  him  legitimate  con- 
victions resulting  from  the  experience  of  his  day  and  hour. 
Progress,  through  the  observation  and  study  of  the  human 
mind,  carries  us  ever  onwards  toward  a  more  perfect  state  of 
existence.  There  is  nothing  in  the  universe  that  is  fixed  and 
unchangeable  but  the  laws  of  God!  There  are  no  evolu- 
tionary changes  in  the  great  Divine  principles  which  govern 
the  universe.  There  is  no  need  of  change  in  the  law  and 
power  of  gravity,  no  need  of  change  in  the  obedient  circling  of 
the  planets  around  their  mother  the  sun,  like  the  motion  of 
human  offspring  around  their  mother  who  loves  and  protects 
them.  There  is  no  need  of  evolutionary  change  in  the  great 

191 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  PRESENT  AND  Ft  Tl  RE. 

divine  principle  of  love  and  protection  of  offspring,  from  human 
parentage  down  to  the  parentage  of  the  smallest  organized 
animalcule  that  exist.  And  so  on  through  all  natural  laws, 
there  is  no  need  of  change  in  the  endowment  of  human  will 
and  free  agency  nor  of  the  human  responsibility  annexed  to 
human  liberty.  All  these  principles  and  laws  are  Divine  final- 
ities over  which  the  human  mind  has  no  power  or  influence. 
Above  all,  there  is  no  need  of  evolutionary  change  in  the 
power,  intelligence,  and  goodness  of  the  great  Mind  and  Heart 
of  the  universe.  But  there  is  great  need  of  change  in  the 
religious  and  moral  teachings  of  the  world.  Changes  toward 
a  more  perfect  statement  of  religious  truth  can  only  be  brought 
about  by  human  means  through  the  enlightenment  of  the 
human  mind.  The  degree  of  human  free-will  and  power  that 
we  possess  need  not  be  increased  by  the  Divine  Power  and 
never  will  be !  But  once  comprehended  it  is  sufficient  to  carry 
on  the  human  race  toward  the  goal  of  perfection,  in  all  things. 
We  may  exercise  implicit  faith  in  the  great  truth  that  no  Power 
above  man  in  the  universe  will  interfere  with  our  human  liberty 
to  perfect  ourselves!  Human  will  and  liberty  in  their  col- 
lective power  may  enable  us  to  become  the  artificers  of  our 
own  happiness  and  well-being  in  this  world! 

Man  has  thus  the  power  to  make  himself  intelligent  and 
good  by  observation,  by  reflection,  and  by  experience.  He 
should  therefore  study,  examine  and  investigate  all  things  in 
order  that  he  may  ascertain  the  truth;  for  the  truth  will  make 
us  free ;  free  from  ignorance  and  superstition  and  from  all  evil. 

In  religion,  as  in  music,  the  purest  and  sweetest   essence 

192 


RELIGIONS   OF  THK    PAST.   PRESICXT  AND  FUTURE. 

lies  in  a  confiding  simplicity  oi'  character.  Our  true  relations 
with  God  ask  from  us  humility,  confidence,  gratitude  and  love. 
As  the  mind  and  heart  are  most  affected  in  music  by  sweet 
and  simple  melodies,  so  the  human  soul  is  most  moved  in 
religious  sentiments  by  the  simplest  principles  of  religion. 
On  a  tablet  in  the  .Hell  St.  Chapel  is  this  inscription:  "  The 
intelligent  and  good  live  near  to  God."  I  believe  that  is  true 
and  will  always  remain  so.  In  the  human  soul  are  the  possi- 
bilities of  approximation  to  the  Divine  mind;  and  the  qualities 
of  intelligence  of  mind  and  goodness  of  heart  should  always  be 
united  in  humble  imitation  of  the  character  of  God.  We  are 
God's  children,  the  offshoots,  so  far  as  we  know,  of  His  best 
thoughts.  To  perceive  and  appreciate  His  intelligence  and 
goodness  should  be  as  easy  as  to  breathe,  and  would  be  so  if 
our  minds  and  hearts  were  attuned  to  His  nature  as  they  might 
be.  Let  us  study  the  intents  of  that  Wisdom  which  is  above 
all  human  wisdom  in  regard  to  us. 

Do  you  ask  "  Why  we  were  not  conditioned  and  consti- 
tuted by  God  so  that  we  could  not  escape  experiencing  the 
happy  effects  on  our  mind  and  heart  which  the  exercise  of 
virtue  and  the  pursuit  of  intelligence  may  give  us?  Many  of 
us  are  wicked  and  corrupt,  and  do  not  enjoy  the  amount  of 
happiness  which  the  virtuous  and  good  enjoy.  Why  was  not 
this  happiness  settled  upon  all  of  us  as  an  heirloom?  Why  is 
what  is  termed  evil  in  the  world  at  all?"  In  discussing  the 
character  of  God  we  must  admit  that  all  questions  of  this 
nature  are  pertinent.  They  are  often  put  with  a  sort  of  indig- 
nation and  vigor  by  individuals  of  all  classes,  even  by  those 

193 


RELIGIONS    OF   THE   PAST,   PRESENT  AND    FUTURK. 

acknowledged  to  be  profound  philosophers.  I  realize  the  diffi- 
culty of  answering  these  questions  to  tlie  satisfaction  of  thox- 
persons  who  are  unfortunate  and  suffering.  Yet  I  believe  in 
a  God  of  perfect  wisdom  and  love;  and  I  believe  we  should  all 
thank  that  Power,  in  whatever  form  or  substance  It  may  exist, 
of  which  man  and  all  living  creatures  are  the  outgrowth,  for 
the  portion  of  ha'ppiness  we  each  enjoy,  and  also  for  the  possi- 
bilities of  increased  happiness  which  we  do  not  enjoy  but  which 
our  freedom  permits  us  to  attain  by  the  ascertainment  of  and 
obedience  to  God's  laws. 

We  should  also  thank  God  that  the  human  race,  being  thus 
gifted,  grows  on,  gradually  evolving,  by  the  aid  of  experience 
and  reason,  toward  a  happier  and  better  state. 

And  in  regard  to  the  prevailing  faith  in  what  are  called 
"  miracles,"  we  would  say  we  do  not  believe  the  laws  of  nature, 
which  are  wisely  established  by  a  higher  power  than  man,  were 
ever  broken  or  interfered  with  by  God.  And  any  system  of 
religion  that  requires  miracles  to  establish  it  is  not  worth  sus- 
taining. If  such  interference  with  established  laws  were  pos- 
sible to  any  God  as  is  narrated  in  the  holy  books  of  many 
religions,  it  would  prove  no  religious  principle!  A  miracle,  if 
true,  would  have  no  moral  quality  whatever.  To  perform  a 
miracle,  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  that  word,  would  be  to  prove 
only  how  much  folly  could  be  attached  to  power!  And  no 
man  who  understands  and  respects  himself  worships  or  esteems 
power  in  itself.  To  prove  the  existence  of  a  power  above  man 
sufficient  to  break  established  laws  of  nature  would  prove 
nothing  respecting  an  object  worthy  of  man's  love  and  rever- 

194 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

ciice.     \\  c  do  no]  reverence  either  God  or  devil  simplv  because 

tliev  are  powerful.     Power  miiM  be  associated    with   goodness 

*  1  O 

and  intelligence  to  e()inniaiul  our  respect  and  worship.  We 
believe  thai  ihc  moM  cultivated  and  be>t  conditioned  race  ol' 
mankind  i-  typical  of  a  higher  mental  and  physical  and  moral 
Power  above  itself.  We  believe  that  mind  as  manifested  in 
man  i>  the  same  in  kind  as  the  mind  of  the  Power  above  us 
whom  we  call  God.  And  we  believe  that  mind  works  in  obedi- 
ence to  great  principles  or  laws  which  the  most  intellectual 
obe}'  most  implicitly. 

We  want  the  same  fidelity  to  true  and  higher  principles  in 
religion  that  the  Christian  has  shown  through  so  many  centu- 
ries toward  erroneous  ideas.  We  want  in  a  modified  and 
enlarged  system  of  religious  worship  and  duty,  the  same  inflex- 
ible conservatism  which  the  Christian  has  exercised  toward 
what  he  has  conceived  to  be  his  highest  moral  and  religious 
duties.  We  want  the  Christian  to  voluntarily  modify  his 
ancient  faith,  but  not  to  change  those  feelings  and  affections 
of  the  heart  which  have  been  cultivated  and  advanced  while 
the  reason  has  lain  dormant.  In  face  of  scientific  discoveries 
which  have  disproved  their  doctrines,  they  have  still  felt  and 
believed  they  had  the  truth.  And  they  have  clung  to  the 
Bible  as  a  perfect  rule  of  faith  and  knowledge.  Every  scien- 
tific man  believes  in  all  the  truths  of  the  Bible,  but  no  one  is 
justified  in  believing  that  all  of  the  Bible  is  true.  Christians 
have  not  believed  enough  in  their  own  God-given  liberty  to 
think  and  reason,  hence  they  have  held  to  error  with  the  same 
devotion  that  they  have  to  truth. 

105 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

T  would  like  to  sec  a  religious  society  established  which 
would  attach  no  merit  to  belief,  or  condemnation  to  unbelief; 
which  would  give  to  all  the  right  of  honest  freedom  of  thought 
and  individual  conviction.  These  should  be  guaranted  to  all. 
But  since  there  is  greater  power  for  good  in  united  than  in 
isolated  action,  the  ideal  religious  society  would  have  a  proper 
coincidence  in  object  and  sympathy  of  views,  to  give  the  force 
which  unity  commands. 

To  that  end  the  new  religion  will,  it  seems  to  me,  stand  for 
the  actuating  principles  which  are  the  highest  which  can  influ- 
ence the  human  mind,  namely:  Gratitude  to  God  and  a  high 
principle  of  honor  toward  God  and  man.  These  two  princi- 
ples powerfully  influence  us  toward  obedience  to  the  laws  of 
nature,  moral  and  physical.  These  laws  of  nature  shadow 
forth  the  character  of  God,  and  the  wise  and  good  man  is  the 
highest  manifestation  of  that  wise  and  beneficent  influence 
which  permeates  all  nature.  Such  principles  of  gratitude  and 
honor  dignify  and  ennoble  man  and  lead  to  the  highest  perfec- 
tion of  his  own  nature.  The  professed  doctrines  of  a  religious 
society  should  raise  a  man  in  his  own  estimation,  not  degrade 
and  belittle  him.  They  should  teach  a  man  who  honestly  does 
the  best  he  knows,  to  respect  and  honor  himself.  To  be  good 
and  intelligent  is  to  live  near  to  God;  and  such  a  man,  what- 
ever his  religious  belief,  can  raise  his  eyes  and  address  the 
Spirit  of  intelligence  and  goodness  and  say, "  Oh  God,  I  thank 
thee  that  thou  hast  constituted  man  able  to  feebly  reflect  in  his 
character  Thy  own  perfections.  And  I  thank  Thee  that  Thou 
hast  given  man  power  to  grow  ever  toward  perfection." 

196 


RELIGIONS   OF  THE   PAST.   PRESENT  AND   FUTURE. 


RELIGIOUS  DUTIES. 

Itchy  I.OH  is  the  performance  of  all  clutio  growing  out  of 
our  relations  with  God,  and  'ntorulih/  is  the  performance  of  all 
duties  growing  out  of  our  relations  with  oui1  fellow-creatures. 
Through  huiiiau  free-will  and  liberty  God  accords  to  man  the 
great  privilege  of  rendering  himself  happy  and  noble  by  the 
ascertainment  and  observance  of  the  laws  of  nature  which 
harmonize  with  the  laws  of  his  own  being. 

We  believe  that  to  practice  religious  and  moral  duties  is  a 
privilege  that  humanity  cannot  afford  to  forego. 

We  believe  that  while  the  knowledge  of  our  relation  with 
God  inspires  gratitude,  and  emotions  which  honor  God  and 
ennoble  man,  the  practice  of  moral  duties  one  toward  another, 
the  duties  of  justice,  fraternity,  and  the  love  that  makes  us 
feel  that  we  are  all  members  of  one  human  family,  are  a  part 
of  our  religious  duties  also.  For  by  thus  obeying  the  moral 
law  in  our  relations  with  each  other  wre  co-operate  with  God 
in  the  perfecting  of  the  human  race.  In  seeking  to  modify, 
not  destroy,  the  present  moral  and  religious  views  of  the  age, 
as  concreted  in  Christianity,  let  us  choose  for  our  new  founda- 
tions the  noblest  and  truest  principles  of  action  that  we  can 
conceive  of,  that  the  human  reason  can  approve  in  our  own 
day;  leaving  to  the  future  human  heart  and  intellect  the  task 
of  further  modifying  and  refining  the  moral  and  religious  prin- 
ciples which  we  believe  should  guide  us. 

197 


RELIGIONS   OF  THE   PAST.    PRESENT   AND    FUTURE. 


AFFIRMATIONS  OF  PRINCIPLES! 

BY   AN  UNKNOWN  AND  MODEST  INDIVIDUAL  ;   FOR  THE  TRUTH 

OF  THE  MOST  OF  WHICH  NO  OTHER  INDIVIDUAL 

IS  RESPONSIBLE. 


Mind  in  all  existences  is  invisible  and  the  great  governing 
powers  of  the  universe  form  no  exception  to  this  rule.  But 
as  in  man  and  the  lower  existences,  so  in  the  higher  powers 
and  in  God,  the  phenomena,  the  manifestations  of  all  nature, 
not  only  prove  the  existence,  but  they  show  the  character  of 
the  invisible  power.  I  have  no  dispute  with  any  one  as  to  the 
name  to  be  given  this  great  invisible  Power  above  man.  If  I 
know  anything  I  know  that  I  exist;  and  that  I  must  have 
existed  before  the  consciousness  which  now  attests  that  exist- 
ence. For  it  is  consciousness  and  not  experience  which  testi- 
fies to  personal  existence.  And  my  endowment  of  reason 
informs  me  that  the  materials  composing  my  personality  existed 
before  consciousness  of  any  mental  power,  since  the  material 
of  which  that  personality  consists  is  the  same  as  that  common 
to  all  substances  of  the  earth. 

198 


RELIGIONS   OF  THE   PAST.   I'KKSKNT   AND  FrTl'RK. 

Is  il  not  easy  1<»  see  in  the  wonderful  evolution  of  organ- 
ized existence-  from  this  lowest  of  all  substances,  the  earth,  a 
Power  "behind,  that  Me  may  call  "God?"  Do  yon  ask  "Is 
(rod  concentrated  and  personal,  or  is  lie  di Mused  throughout 
all  nature?"  I  would  suggest  that  God  is  both  personal  and 
diffused,  and  exists  everywhere  in  exact  proportion  to  the  need 
for  His  presence.  God  is  present  in  a  greater  or  less  degree 
in  all  organized  moving  forms  down  to  the  humble  plant  or 
blade  of  grass.  God  is  in  all,  and  in  accordance  with  the  most 
enlightened  human  reason,  He  is  antecedent  to  all.  Would 
you  ask  "  Who  and  what  was  antecedent  to  your  God?"  I 
would  reply  that  considering  our  existence,  our  constitution 
and  environment,  if  the  question  is  not  foolish  it  is  not  perti- 
nent, since  it  cannot  be  answered!  ~No  mind  of  man  ever 
conceived  of  a  first  cause  or  primal  beginning.  Why? 
Because  man  is  not  constituted  to  comprehend  it.  A  question 
which  cannot  be  answered  is  not  a  pertinent  question  to 
•discuss.  The  immediate  God  of  this  world  we  can  and  do  in 
n  measure  comprehend,  since  we  can  learn  and  perceive  His 
qualities.  Man's  most  perfect  justice  and  intensified  kindness 
to  his  loved  ones  is,  so  to  speak,  only  the  moonlight  as  com- 
pared to  the  sunlight  of  God's  justice  and  benevolence  to  all. 

The  true  principles  to  guide  us  in  perfecting  ourselves  in 
religion  and  morality  are  these:  To  be  just  and  kind  toward 
all.  And  justice  involves  charity,  seeing  that  none  of  us  are 
so  happy  as  to  have  arrived  at  perfection. 

The  Unitarians  of  to-day  are  the  most  advanced  towards  a 
rational  religion  such  as  I  hope  to  see  firmly  initiated. 

199 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

The  Unitarians  are  becoming  organized  into  very  pleasant 
social  societies.  This  course  is  in  accordance  with  my  own 
views,  as  shown  by  the  inscription  I  caused  to  be  placed  on 
the  panel  of  a  door  in  Bell  St.  Chapel,  which  reads,  "  Let  us 
cherish  the  amenities  of  life."  We  should  all  endeavor  to 
make  life  cheerful  and  pleasant  to  one  another.  Politeness 
and  a  kind  sympathy  in  the  welfare  of  all  those  with  whom 
we  come  in  contact  are  always  in  order  and  cost  little. 

]N"o  matter  what  theological  views  are  entertained,  no  mat- 
ter of  what  nation,  no  matter  if  rich  or  poor,  to  cherish  and 
exercise  this  costless  habit  gives  pleasure  to  both  parties. 
Unitarians  are  civilizing  themselves  and  amiably  forsaking 
those  harsh  and  unreasonable  articles  of  faith  still  held  by  the 
honest  and  sincere  Orthodox  denominations  of  Christians. 
But  the  more  conservative  among  them  still  cling  to  so  many 
of  the  wrong  ideas  which  permeate  Christianity  that  I  cannot 
call  myself  a  Unitarian. 

Should  one  ask  "  To  what  denomination  do  you  belong  ?" 
I  should  be  obliged  to  answer  that  I  belong  to  none  and  have 
no  Christian  creed.  The  church  to  which  I  belong  is  not  large ! 
One  individual  is  all  that  can  be  counted  a  member  up  to  this 
date.  But  it  is  an  elating  fact  that  one  additional  member 
would  increase  its  proportions  one  hundred-fold !  And  I  hope 
that  one  year  of  patient,  honest  labor  would  increase  the  pres- 
ent membership  a  thousand-fold!  One  sound  acorn  judiciously 
planted  is  sufficient  for  the  growth  of  a  large  tree  with  many 
strong  branches.  My  hope  is  in  the  new  seeds  of  truth  which 
are  now  being  planted.  I  believe  that  if  I  attended  a  church 

200 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE   PAST.    PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

alone  I  >hould  havr  the  presence  of  God;  for  where  there  is 
real  sincerity  and  some  decree  <>f  reason  in  religious  exercises, 
I  believe  He  i-  alwav>  present. 

[de-ire  to  hrlp  form  a  Religions  Societv  which  can  sav. 
"  \Ve  are  inside  of  Christianity,  as  we  are  inside  of  all  the 
religions  of  the  world,  in  ever\  truthi'ul  principle  which  Christi- 
anity or  any  otlier  svstem  of  religion  inculcates!  And  we  are 
outside  every  belief  and  principle  of  Christianity  or  other  relig- 
ious system  which  underestimates  the  character  of  God  and 
lessens  the  true  dignity  of  Humanity.'' 

I  believe  that  the  perfection  of  mankind  physically  and 
mentally  as  well  as  morally  is  the  end  to  be  attained  in  religion. 
All  progress  and  experience  tend  slowly  toward  that  end. 
And  let  ns  not  forget  that  it  is  in  our  own  power  to  hasten 

this  result. 

t 
In  true  religion  every  moral  duty  is  comprised.      I  hope 

that  in  the  Society  which  I  desire  to  help  form,  the  great  prin- 
ciples of  justice,  kindness,  and  a  reasonable  chanty  to  all,  may 
be  recognized,  taught  and  practiced.  I  believe  also  that  we 
should  be  just  in  estimating  and  describing  the  character  of 
God,  and  not  meet  to  vilify  and  ascribe  to  the  great  beneficent 
Power  a  character  more  unjust  and  cruel  than  the  meanest  and 
worst  specimen  of  humanity  that  ever  existed.  Let  us  be  just 
to  all,  not  excluding  the  kind  Author  of  our  existence,  with 
whom  we  have  relations,  and  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the 
happiness  which  life  comprises  and  all  the  unused  possibilities 
of  increased  enjoyment.  Let  us  be  voluntarily  grateful  to 
God;  there  is  no  higher  duty;  there  is  no  higher  motive  than 

201 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST.  PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

gratitude  to  God  to  move  us  to  further  God's  intent,  which  is 
the  perfection  of  mankind  in  all  ways.  This  perfection  of 
mankind  can  be  attained  only  through  the  efforts  of  man  him- 
self, through  the  exercise  of  the  human  intelligence  and  the 
cultivation  of  those  sentiments  of  the  heart  which  themselves 
lead  to  gratitude  toward  God.  And  gratitude  to  God  is  best 
shown  by  justice  and  kindness  toward  all  creatures;  for  in  all 
creatures  is  a  spark  of  God  whose  love  and  power  we  would 
worship! 


REEKJIONS   OF  THE    PAST.    PR  ESEX  I'   AM)   FUTURE. 


IMMORTALITY. 


I  am  asked  do  I  believe  in  the  immortality  of  the  human 
mind,  or  in  other  words  do  I  believe  in  the  continued  conscious- 
ness after  death,  of  individual  minds?  I  hope  the  reader  will 
agree  that  it  is  best  to  discuss  such  a  question  as  this  with 
calmness,  with  a  fearless  honesty,  with  self-possession,  keep- 
ing our  passions,  our  prejudices,  even  our  honest  convictions, 
well  in  hand.  May  we  all  be  inspired  by  the  love  of  truth,  for 
all  truth  is  of  God! 

The  question :  "  Are  we  each  and  all  immortal  in  con- 
sciousness after  death?"  is  too  important  to  be  replied  to  in 
flippant  haste!  Let  each  examine  and  reflect  before  deciding 
for  himself.  Let  us  look  about  us,  here  in  New  England, 
which  may  be  called  the  land  of  the  daring  in  thought,  and 
see  what  we  find  for  answer.  For  one,  I  cannot  accept  as  final 
the  prompt  reply  of  the  Orthodox,  "  Yes,  we  are  all  immortal." 
This  reply  is  loudly  echoed  by  all  the  Christian  sects,  down  to 
the  Unitarian,  which  by  distinguished  representatives  assert, 
"  Yes,  we  are  immortal !  "  But  many  of  the  more  advanced 
Unitarians  express  some  doubt  on  the  question,  and  those  least 
affected  by  the  beliefs  of  Christianity  make  more  feeble  and 

203 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST  PRESENT,  AND  FUTURE. 

uncertain   replies.     We  are   lei't  in  doubt   as  to  the  belie!'  of 
many  distinguished  men  upon  this  point  by  their  silence. 

Meanwhile,  silent  are  all  the  poAvers  other  and  higher  than 
man  upon  this  great  question  of  continued  consciousness  after 
death.  Silent,  for  we  cannot  accept  what  are  called  Christian 
revelations  any  more  than  the  intelligent  men  of  that  ignorant 
and  superstitious  age  accepted  them!  And  if  we  cannot  accept 
the  so-called  evidence  of  personal  immortality  which  is  the 
ground  of  the  Christian's  hope,  still  less  can  we  accept  the  so- 
called  evidence  of  continued  consciousness  after  death,  which 
Spiritualism,  claims  to  give.  I  believe  that  Spiritualism  was 
founded  and  is  now  maintained  by  the  meanest  trickeries.  I 
believe  that  the  unprincipled  "  mediums  "  of  our  day  sustain 
the  belief  in  Spiritualism  by  appeals  to  that  quality  of  the 
human  mind  which  we  call  faith  or  confidence,  which  when 
applied  to  a  pure  religion,  approved  by  reason,  is  a  normal 
and  noble  quality;  but  which  when  applied  to  such  a  supersti- 
tion as  Spiritualism,  becomes  perverted  to  weakness  and 
credulity. 

And  the  mental  disease  of  credulity  has  reached  such 
extremes  in  the  development  of  Spiritualism  as  to  prove  how 
great  is  the  gullibility  of  poor  human  nature,  and  how  rich  a 
financial  vein  is  worked  by  those  who  can  trade  upon  it ! 

The  advocates  of  Spiritualism  will  assure  you  that  spirits 

do  exist,  and  that  for  one  dollar  you  may  assist  at  a  spiritual 

seance  where  evidence  will  be  given  to  convince  any  one  not 

-  rendered  obdurate  by  prejudice,  of  the  existence  of  a  future 

conscious  state.     They  thus  claim  to  give  the  only  positive 

204 


RELIGIONS   OF  THH   PAST.  PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

and  scientific  evidence  of  immortality;  since  ministers  of  all 
religions  treat  it  as  a  matter  chiefly  of  faith  and  hope.  In  this 
way  the  velvet-footed  medium  seems  to  have  stolen  a  march 
upon  the  Christian  in  the1  way  of  evidence,  and  obtained  from 
the  divine  powers  the  chief  proofs  of  a  future  state. 

I  claim  there  is  no  foundation  in  truth  for  belief  in  these 
pretensions  of  the  trick-performers  of  so-called  Spiritualism, 
and  the  averments  of  their  unsophisticated  believers.  I  con- 
sider the  truth  and  falsity  of  this  matter  as  settled,  and  hold 
no  further  discussion  necessary. 

Like  the  average  man,  the  scientific  student  may  be 
deceived  by  tricks  and  apparent  phenomena,  and  spiritualists 
have  been  quite  successful  in  cheating  some  noted  scientists. 
A  scientific  man  with  his  exact  facts  is  a  very  useful  person, 
but  he  is  not  necessarily  a  philosopher,  or  in  any  sense  a  very 
deep  thinker  ;  and  he  needs  good  instruments,  good  eyes,  and 
much  patient  investigation  to  do  his  work  successfully. 

What  we  call  "  inspiration  "  is  the  earnest  and  honest  out- 
come of  sincere  minds,  seeking  the  truth  and  giving  unself- 
ishly of  the  best  they  know  to  promote  the  welfare  of  their 
fellow  creatures.  The  intuitive  flashes  of  truth  from  an  honest, 
searching  and  intelligent  mind  often  excite  admiration  and 
wonder.  But  intuition  is  simply  the  rapid  and  hardy  exercise 
of  human  thought.  Christ  had  no  inspiration  other  than  any 
sincerely  good  man  may  experience.  Inspiration  may  be  felt 
in  the  earnestness  of  honest  convictions  by  either  Atheist  or 
Christian ;  but  only  mean  imitations  of  inspiration  are  in  my 
opinion  given  by  those  who  are  dishonest  and  crafty.  And 

205 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  PRESENT  AND   IT 'TURK. 

such  I  esteem  the  tricky  "mediums''  who  dupe  the  unsophis- 
ticated. These  make  their  living  out  of  the  confiding  credulity 
of  their  fellow-creatures,  by  leading  them  to  believe  in  the 
"spirit  power"  which  they  claim  is  manifested  through  them. 
and  they  induce  many  to  become  willing  to  pay  for  the  disgust- 
ing platitudes  under  the  name  of  "  communications  "  which 
are  dealt  out  by  them.  The  hope  of  the  intelligent  and  honest 
is  that  when  we  awake  from  the  nightmare-sleep  of  such  silly 
superstitions  they  will  be  replaced  by  something  more  sensible. 

In  every  death,  the  spark  of  God  which  has  animated  the 
body  seems  to  become  extinct;  as  in  every  birth  a  spark  of  God 
seems  to  become  revived.  Individuals,  or  particles  of  the  entity 
of  mankind,  are  sloughed  off,  and  the  material  which  com- 
posed the  body,  after  death  mingles  again  with  its  mother 
earth.  Like  broken  glass  it  is  thrown  again  into  the  furnace 
to  be  brought  forth  remodeled  into  other  forms.  Men  and 
women  die,  but  the  race  of  man  is  immortal!  As  the  particles 
composing  a  single  human  body  change  and  are  sloughed  off 
constantly,  yet  the  identity  of  the  individual  is  left  intact,  so 
individuals  composing  the  entity  of  mankind  die,  and  new  and 
fresh  individuals  are  born  to  keep  the  race  intact  and  make  it 
immortal. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  death  of  the  individual  seems 
to  end  his  consciousness,  a  large  number  of  the  most  intelligent 
class  of  men  believe  in  the  immortality  of  their  own  conscious- 
ness. They  believe  that  each  mind  will  carry  with  it  into  the 
next  world  its  own  bundle  of  experiences,  memories  and 
beliefs  ;  all  in  fact  that  makes  it  a  distinct  entity. 

2U6 


RELIGIONS   OF  THK   PAST.   PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

We  cannot  however,  h-ach  as  a  positive  truth  the  immor- 
tality of  individual  consciousness  after  death,  for  we  liave  no 
laeis  or  evidence  that  would  justify  sueh  dogmatic  teaching 
upon  thi>  subject.  We  cannot  even  teach  the  immortality  of 
the  race  of  mankind  in  the  sense  that  theologians  apply  the 
idea  to  individuals  ofthe  race,  lor  the  onlv  home  of  the  race  is 
on  this  earth.  This  vague  and  shadowy  idea  of  existing  after 
death  often  causes  an  unhealthy  state  of  the  mind,  and  some- 
times makes  men  undervalue  this  lii'e  which  rightly  used  is  a 
positive  blessing  from  the  hand  of  God.  And  to  lightly  esteem 
this  life  in  comparison  with  any  other  of  which  we  have  no 
proof  in  experience,  is  a  kind  of  insult  to  the  Giver  of  life. 

I  have  given  the  subject  of  immortality  much  thought. 
Often  on  waking  in  the  morning  when  the  mind  is  freshest  for 
thinking  have  I  turned  this  subject  over  in  my  mind. 
Especially  have  I  done  this  within  a  year  or  two.  I  shall  soon 
be  in  my  eightieth  year  ;  my  health  is  good  and  my  mind  is 
contemplative  rather  than  active  ;  feeling  as  I  gravitate  toward 
my  rocking  chair  that  my  life's  work  is  slowly  drawing  to  a 
close  ;  that  I  am  living  on  borrowed  time,  a  tenant  at  will !  I 
am  honestly  conscious  of  this  fact.  And  I  therefore  have  no 
motive  in  anything  I  say  except  to  elicit  truth  upon  this  as 
upon  all  subjects.  . 

If  it  should  be  proved  that  death  ends  all,  rightly  viewed 
the  law  of  unconsciousness  or  death  would  be  seen  to  be  as 
divine  in  its  conception  as  the  law  of  birth  and  consciousness. 
For  all  laws  are  part  and  parcel  of  the  same  contriving  wisdom. 
And  since  an  unconscious  body  cannot  be  conscious  of  its  own 

207 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,   PRESENT  AND   FUTURE. 

dissolution,  the  living  alone  suffer  pain  and  regret  at  tin- 
extinction  of  a  human  life.  If  it  should  be  proved  that  tin- 
whole  story  of  the  life  of  a  human  being  should  be  "from  the 
dust,  to  the  dust,''  with  the  beautiful  episode  of  life  between. 
we  could  not  complain.  For  the  unconsciousness  which  in 
that  case  death  would  place  us  in,  we  were,  before  our  birth, 
placed  in  also  ;  that  is,  we  were  unorganized  before  our  birth 
as  we  may  be  disorganized  at  death.  Therefore  we  would  be 
left  precisely  where  we  were  found,  an  unconscious  part  of  the 
great  whole.  And  those  who  claim  that  we  have  a  right  to 
personal  immortality  might  as  well  set  up  the  claim  that  the 
Great  Power  is  guilty  of  an  injustice  in  permitting  so  many 
aeons  of  time  to  elapse  before  each  individual  who  lives  now 
was  organized  into  personality.  We  have  just  as  much  right 
to  claim  existence  through  the  past  ages  as  in  the  eternity 
which  is  to  follow  our  little  lives. 

In  a  note-book  of  William  Kingdon  Clifford  are  found 
some  sentences  upon  this  subject  of  personal  immortality  which 
have  struck  me  as  important.  He  says,  "  Longing  for  death- 
lessness  means  simply  shrinking  from  death.  However  or 
wherever  we  who  live,  endeavor  to  realize  an  end  to  this 
healthy  life  of  action,  in  ourselves  or  in  our  brethren,  the  effect 
is  a  .painful  one.  We  do  not  want  to  die  now,  nor  next  year, 
nor  the  year  after  that,  nor  at  any  time  that  we  can  clearly 
imagine.  What  is  this  but  to  say  that  we  want  to  live  forever 
in  the  only  meaning  of  the  words  that  we  can  at  all  realize?" 

There  exists  no  evidence  that  a  sensible  and  thoughtful 
mind  can  accept  as  proof  that  we  shall  live  after  death  with 


RELIGIONS  OF  THK   PAST.   PRFSENT  AND  FUTURE. 

niii-  present  consciousness  of  existence.  Well,  what  if  there' 
does  not  V  This  affords  us  a  line  chance  of  trusting-  in  God 
that  our  birth  being  so  great  a  blessing',  our  death,  coming* 
from  the  same  kind  Power,  cannot  be  a  great  misfortune!  Let 
us  each  be  trustful  and  cheerful  to  the  end,  for  who  knows  but 
our  Divine  Father  has  arranged  an  agreeable  surprise  for  us 
at  the  end  as  at  the  beginning  of  this  earthly  life? 

It  is  worthy  of  note  in  this  connection  that  \vhile  scientists 
agree  that  there  is  no  proof  of  the  immortality  of  individual 
consciousness  after  death  there  is  as  certainly  no  proof  to  the 
contrary.  And  there  are  no  good  reasons  given  by  any  one 
why  individual  consciousness  should  not  be  given  after  death 
by  the  Divine  Power  !  That  beneficent  Being-  who  gave  us 
life  as  a  free  gift  and  caused  individual  consciousness  to  appear, 
may  be  trusted  in  this  matter  of  the  continuance  of  that  con- 
sciousness after  death.  Scientists  are  not  necessarily  phi- 
losophers, they  give  us  simply  the  use  of  their  eyes,  and  that  is 
much. 

An  immortality  worthy  the  name  would  be  that  desired  by 
Benjamin  Franklin  when  he  says  :  "  It  would  be  gratifying 
to  me  to  revisit  the  earth  and  my  country  to  see  what  progress 
my  countrymen  have  made  under  our  state  and  federal  Con- 
stitutions, what  progress  they  have  made  in  the  principles  of 
religion  and  morality."  This  aspiration  of  Franklin's  we  can 
all  participate  in. 

I  would  sum  up  the  discussion  of  the  great  question  "  Does 
death  end  all  V "  in  the  words  which  I  have  caused  to  be 
inscribed  upon  a  panel  in  Bell. St.  Chapel : 

209 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE   PAST.   1'RKSKXT  AM)  FLTlki;. 

"  He  who  gave  us  life  gave  us  death!  Corning1  from  tin- 
same  beneficent  sonree  why,  if  we  realize  that  lii'e  is  good, 
should  we  imagine  that  death  is  had  ^  Trust  that  Power  whom 
we  designate  as  God!  Fear  no  event  that  God  ordains 
must  happen.  Fear  not  death  !  The  same  wise  and  beneficent 
Power  that  gave  you  birth  presides  equally  at  your  death. 
Trust  in  God  !  •' 


210 


RELIGIONS  OF  Till-:   PAST,  PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 


PRAYERS  TO  GOD. 


No  person  should  insult  his  Maker  by  ottering  up  to  Him 
in  public  or  in  private  any  petition,  prayer,  advice-  or  sugges- 
tion, in  regard  to  the  operation  of  the  natural  laws  which  are 
instituted  in  power,  wisdom  and  goodness.  And  a  notice  or 
caution  to  abstain  from  all  such  addresses  to  God  should  be 
placed  ou  the  walls  of  all  our  churches.  It  is  a  shame  to  the 
vaunted  civilization  of  the  nineteenth  century  that  such  indig- 
nities to  our  Divine  Father  should  be  permitted! 

It  is  true  that  no  attention  is  paid  to  petitions  and  begging- 
pray  ers  by  any  Power  above  the  human.  No  authentic  proof 
exists  that  any  prayer  was  ever  answered  or  in  any  way  noticed 
by  any  divinity.  Petitioning  and  praying  to  God  this  writer 
would  place  among  the  venial  sins.  In  proportion  to  the  length 
of  the  begging  prayer,  is  the  waste  of  time,  not  only  of  the 
minister  or  spokesman  but  of  the  time  of  the  whole  congrega- 
tion. This  time  is  worse  than  misspent,  for  the  iteration  and 
reiteration  of  these  foolish  appeals,  Sunday  after  Sunday, 
impress  the  minds  of  the  auditors  with  false  notions  of  the 
character  of  God,  whom  those  who  thus  pray,  suppose  may 
be  influenced  and  worked  upon  to  change  His  mind  in  regard 
to  some  important  matter  concerning  them  !  These  foolish 
persons  evidently  think  that  God  has  inadvertently  overlooked 

211 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST.  PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

some  things  in  creation  and  law  which  ministers  feel  it  a  fluty,. 
in  the  interest  of  their  flocks,  to  instruct  him  about!  They 
desire  where  God  is  wrong  to  set  Him  right!  The  whole 
process  of  prayer  in  the  sense  of  petition  or  appeal  implies  the 
superiority  of  human  wisdom  as  compared  with  the  Divine. 

It  is  true  the  earnest  and  honest  Christian  intends  no 
offence  in  his  endeavor  to  induce  his  God  to  change  and  warp 
for  his  benefit  the  unchangeable  laws  of  niind  and  matter. 
This  form  of  prayer  is  a  part  of  the  error  which  inheres  in  the 
Christian  system  of  faith,  which  can  only  be  overthrown  by 
the  spread  of  more  enlightened  ideas.  We  must  replace  the 
corner-stones  of  this  erroneous  system  by  more  solid  and 
reasonable  religious  and  moral  theories.  There  are  four  corner- 
stones of  the  Orthodox  Christian  system  which  need  to  be 
replaced ;  viz. : 

First:  An  undignified,  unmanly  fear  of  a  hell  that  does 
not  exist.  Second  :  A  groundless  hope  of  a  heaven  that 
exists  only  in  an  unreasonable  and  selfish  imagination.  Third : 
Faith  in  the  propitiatory  atonement  of  all  our  errors  and  sins 
through  the  blood  of  Christ,  an  innocent  man.  And  fourth  : 
Begging  prayers  to  God  to  change  His  wise  and  good  pur- 
poses and  laws  to  please  human  beings.  On  a  panel  in  Bell 
St.  Chapel  are  these  words  : 

"Praise  and  Acknowledgments  :    not  Prayer  !     Let  us  not 
say,  '  Give  us  ! '     But  *  Thou  hast  given.' ': 


212 


RELIGION'S  OF  THE   PAST.   PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 


CREEDS. 

Free  Religionists  and  Radicals  say,  "  We  want  no  written 
religious  creeds,  we  want  ;  soul  liberty,'  freedom  of  thought 
and  action/'  Why  this  prejudice  against  settled  principles  ? 
If  we  ask  a  Radical,  u  Have  you  in  your  mind  no  idea  of  right 
and  wrong,  no  principles,  no  settled  rules  to  guide  your 
actions  ? "  "  Certainly  we  have  !  "  "  Do  you  believe  in  a 
Power  higher  and  superior  to  man  ?  "  "  We  do  !  "  Then  put 
it  down  fearlessly  in  writing  !  "  Do  you  believe  in  justice  ? 
Should  all  persons  be  treated  with  the  toleration  which  we  ask 
of  them  ?  "  "  They  should."  Then  declare  all  these  things 
and  many  more  will  occur  to  you.  These  noble,  guiding  prin- 
ciples are  the  points  of  your  creed,  then  why  not  put  them  in 
writing  ?  Draw  the  attention  of  your  children  to  them,  they 
are  entitled  to  know  these  truths  ;  don't  cover  up  the  light  of 
these  truths  in  the  casket  of  your  own  mind.  An  honest  man 
who  makes  a  contract  with  another  should  be  willing  to  put  it 
in  writing.  "  But "  says  the  Radical,  "  as  the  world  and  truth 
are  developed,  we  may  wish  to  modify  and  change  our  creeds." 
This  is  true  I  And  what  of  that  ?  We  write  our  creeds 

213 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,   PRESENT  AND  riTl'RE. 

to-day  comprising  the  highest  principles  of  action  towards  (»od 
and  man  that  we  can  conceive  of,  we  crystali/e  in  our  moral 
and  religions  belief's  the  best  thoughts,  the  noblest  principles 
and  truths  of  to-day.  And  let  us  have  a  ])rominent  article  of 
our  faith  that  as  human  thought  and  experience  develop  new 
truth  we  may  add  to  or  modify  our  old  articles  of  faith.  Let 
us  change,  add  to,  and  refine  our  creeds  as  we  evolve  into  new 
lights  and  experience.  When  our  creeds  perfect  us,  then  they 
may  be  considered  as  finalities. 

There  can  be  no  valid  objection  to  a  statement  of  ascer- 
tained truths,  any  more  than  there  can  be  valid  objections  to  a 
knowledge  of  the  best  guiding  principles  of  human  action. 
Church  creeds  either  are,  or  are  imagined  to  be,  pure  concreted 
truths  indicating  our  relations  and  duties  toward  God  and 
man.  We  have  been  endowed  with  memory  that  we  may  lay 
up  in  our  minds  the  fruit  of  human  experience,  and  we  have 
been  given  judgment  or  reason  which  enables  us  to  discrim- 
inate in  this  record  of  experience.  It  is  an  error  to  either  fail 
to  write  the  creed  of  to-day,  or  to  refrain  from  adding  to  it  the 
newer  truth  which  may  be  revealed  to-morrow. 

Let  us  search  for  the  truth  !  Let  us  not  cry  aloud  that  we 
have  it,  unless  we  can  furnish  ample  proofs  of  its  genuineness. 
Let  us  not  adulterate  it  with  dogmatic  opinions,  and  let  us  be 
careful  not  to  mix  with  it  much  of  faith  and  personal  convic- 
tion which  have  chief  value  only  in  individual  use.  Truth 
should  be  demonstrated  like  a  fact  of  science,  something  always 
admitted,  never  contested.  A  truth  is  never  discordant  with 
right  reason.  If  it  be  a  fact  as  I  believe,  universally  admitted, 

214 


RKI.IGIOXS  OF  Till-:    PAST.    I'KKSKNT  AM)   Fl'TURK. 

that  ;i  ereatinir  Power  exists,  wise,  kind,  just  and   good,  let  us 
declare  il . 

\  et  how  earel'ul  should  we  l>e  in  our  assumptions!  The 
true  >eareher  lor  truth  i>  -low  and  hesitating',  he  is  humble, 
patiently  examining'  all  things  within  the  cognizance  of  his 
pow(-i's.  listening' dispassionately  to  other>,  honest  and  court- 
eous  toward  the  suggestions  and  opinions  expressed  by  others, 
especially  by  those  who  like  himself  are  earnest  seekers  for 
truth  !  We  all  acknowledge  the  yalne  of  truth.  Let  us  mine 
for  it  ;  and  may  we.  like  the;  experienced  miner,  be  able  to  dis- 
tinguish the  true  from  the  "fool's  gold''  that  we  may  secure 
only  that  which  will  bear  the  test  of  the  furnace  and  show  no 
loss. 

We  are  justified  in  thinking  that  the  human  race  is  at  the 
point  of  adolescence  in  regard  to  established  truth.  Science 
is  at  work  quietly  and  modestly,  and  it  is  perhaps  the  most 
promising  and  hopeful  child  to  which  humanity  has  given 
birth  !  It  is  at  work  on  material  facts,  or  truths  as  reported 
by  the  senses,  and  this  class  of  facts  is  the  groundwork  of  all 
knowledge.  Science  is  a  child  that  has  hardly  yet  begun  to 
grope  in  the  field  of  mental  reflection  or  to  make  deductions 
from  the  material  facts  acquired  through  the  senses.  And  it 
has  little  to  answer  to  the  questions  we  would  ask  concerning 
God  and  a  future  life. 

No  human  being  can  form  an  adequate  conception  of  the 
power,  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God.  If  our  minds  are 
weighted,  as  we  must  all  admit  is  possible,  with  any  degree  of 
the  ignorance  and  superstition  bequeathed  to  us  by  our  honest 

215 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  PRESENT  AM)  FUTTRI-:. 

forefathers,  how  willing'  we  should  all  be  to  revise  and  re- 
examine  the  grounds  of  our  faith  and  guiding  principles  of 
action  in  religious  matters  !  In  case  of  such  re-examination 
if  we  find  that  we  have  the  "truth  and  the  whole  truth  ;'  there 
will  be  no  need  of  change.  And  an  honest  examination  of  our 
creeds  of  faith  and  morals  would  only  strengthen  our  convic- 
tion that  we  were  in  the  right  path. 

T  would  not  have  a  religious  society  attach  merit  to  belief, 
nor  demerit  to  unbelief;  for  both  may  be  honest  states  of  the 
mind  in  regard  to  the  truth  or  error  of  what  is  presented  to  it 
for  decision.  God  has  guaranteed  to  us  in  the  mental  consti- 
tution secrecy  of  thought,  and  our  honest  opinions  and  con- 
victions, therefore,  we  may  keep  to  ourselves.  If,  however,  we 
feel  ourselves  inspired  to  express  those  opinions  or  convictions 
to  our  fellow-men,  either  verbally  or  in  writing,  then  they  may 
be  considered  as  so  presented  to  other  minds  that  any  one  has 
a  right  to  examine  and  criticise  them  fairly,  to  the  end  that 
truth  may  be  evolved  and  established  for  the  common  use 
of  all.  And  we  may  all  felicitate  ourselves  that  we  live  in  an 
age  when  free  discussion  in  religion  and  morals  is  tolerated. 
This  right  of  free  speech  has  been  wrested  from  the  intoler- 
ance of  past  ages  by  the  march  of  science  and  enlightened 
thought.  We  are  beginning  to  realize  and  use  our  God-given 
right  of  soul-liberty  to  investigate  and  discover  all  of  truth  as 
best  we  may.  May  each  Christian  sect  claim  and  maintain  it& 
right  to  differ  as  its  honest  convictions  may  incline  it,  from  all 
other  Christian  sects.  And  may  all  those  outside  of  any 
church  organization  claim  and  maintain  entire  freedom  of 

216 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE   PAST.   PRESENT   AND  FUTURE. 

thinking  and  of  speech  on  these  important  questions  of 
religion,  on  all  suitable  occasions.  Clear  convictions  of  the 
truth  can  only  he  arrived  at  hv  study  of  facts  and  bv  serious 
reflection,  and  when  an  individual  claims  to  be  convinced  or 
to  have  real  convict  ions  it  is  not  in  order  for  another  to  question 
his  results  >o  far  as  they  pertain  to  himself.  There  is  great 
diversity  of  mind  and  thought  :  and  this  is  well.  The  honest 
and  true  convictions  of  each  and  every  thoughtful  mind  must 
be  arrived  at  by  and  through  its  own  mental  labor.  Our  rule 
should  be  to  adopt  nothing  which  has  not  been  passed  through 
the  analysis  of  the  laboratory  of  our  own  minds  ! 

Every  man's  convictions  should  be  stamped  by  his  own 
reason  and  best  judgment  and  packed  away  in  his  memory 
ticketed  with  the  reasons  for  his  faith.  But  personal  beliefs 
should  have  a  basis  of  sound  reason. 

And  all  convictions  supposed  to  be  true,  are  likely  to  be 
modified  ;  for  in  the  evolution  of  thought  there  are  no  finali- 
ties. The  data  of  science,  philosophy  and  religion  are  con- 
stantly changing  with  the  onward  progress  of  the  human 
mind. 

No  man  can  therefore  conceive  of  any  advance  or  ameliora- 
tion in  science,  morals  or  religion  that  his  own  study  has 
enabled  him  to  make,  which  another  man  wiser  and  better  than 
he  may  not  improve  upon  !  Each  and  every  age  is  entitled  to 
the  advantage  which  the  crop  of  its  experience  gives  to  it ; 
and  man  in  every  age  is  entitled  to  the  fresh  thought  which 
experience,  reflection  and  science  ripen  into  wisdom,  as  fruit  is 
ripened  by  sunshine,  showers  and  time. 

217 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  PRESENT  AND  Ft 'TURK. 

In  the  religious  and  moral  duties  the  mental  inspiration  of 
the  day  and  hour  in  which  we  live  will  suffice  for  the  needs 
and  demands  of  that  day  and  hour.  But  the  progressive 
changes  of  the  human  mind  are  and  ought  to  be  guarded  and 
slow. 

The  religions  of  the  world  may  he  likened  to  a  forest  of 
beautiful  and  stately  trees,  around  which  have  grown  the  briars 
and  heavy  underwood  of  superstition  and  prejudice.  Our 
men  of  science,  and  our  great  religious  pioneers,  like  Emerson, 
Parker  and  Charming,  have  done  much  to  clear  away  the 
parasitic  growth  of  noisome  weeds  and  the  clogging  under- 
brush which  ignorance  has  cherished  around  the  roots  of  the 
great  trees  of  religion.  These  pioneers  need  themselves  to  be 
watched,  and  must  be  guided  by  reason,  by  justice,  and  by 
patience,  for  they  act  as  engineers  and  directors  for  a  host  of 
levelers  and  workers.  The  tall  and  grand  old  trees  which 
represent  our  various  types  of  religion  may  be  left  to  grow ; 
their  tap-roots  run  down  deeply  in  the  soil  of  human  needs  and 
sentiments  ;  but  we  should  prune  away  those  limbs  of  super- 
stitious errors  that  prevent  the  sunlight  of  truth  from  pene- 
trating to  cheer  our  minds  and  hearts.  Let  us  not  attempt  to 
destroy  these  trees  of  human  faith  !  Let  us  trim  and  beautify 
them,  and  when  they  gradually  decay  they  will  be  replaced  by 
newer  and  more  beautiful  growths  for  future  generations. 

Our  creed  should  be  made  up  of  true  principles  of  right 
thinking  and  right  conduct,  and  I  see  no  objection  to  noting 
down  in  the  form  of  constitutional  principles,  or  a  creed  of 
beliefs,  the  honest  convictions  of  to-day  by  those  who  would 

218 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE   PAST,   PRESHXT   .VXD  Fl'TL'Rl-:. 

form  a  Religious  Society.  \Vliy  cannot  all  stand  on  a  platform 
ot'lhc  truest  and  iiol>|r-t  principle-  that  the  head  and  heart  can 
conceive  of  in  our  da\  and  generation  ?  We  may  do  this  and 
yet  admit  that  there  i>  nothing  now  conceived  in  science, 
moral-  and  religion  which  may  not  in  time  he  improved  upon. 
With  thi>  conviction  I  express  the  hope  that  should  those  who 
believe  in  *'  proving  all  things  and  holding  l'a>t  that  which  is 
good  "  acce])t  the  suggestions  J  have  made  toward  a  codified 
statement  of  principle?,  and  found  a  Society  upon  them,  they 
will  candidly  submit  them  to  the  tests  of  their  own  reason  at 
all  times.  And  I  would  urge  that  in  case  of  the  acceptance  of 
these,  or  any  other  statements  of  belief  by  a  Keligious  Society 
worshipping  in  Bell  St.  Chapel,  there  may  be  at  the  end  of 
every  five  or  ten  years  a  convocation  or  convention  held  by  all 
the  members  of  such  Society,  the  object  of  which  shall  be  the 
careful  review,  criticism,  and  if  necessary,  change  of  the 
adopted  creed. 

There  is  no  danger  that  such  a  course  would  lead  to  any 
unseemly  haste  in  changing  accepted  theories,  for  in  evolving 
from  error  to  truth  all  changes  are  slow  and  ought  to  be. 

In  my  opinion  the  system  of  Religion  and  Morality  I  have 
tried  to  present,  embraces  the  truest  conceptions  of  our  real 
relations  to  God  and  to  each  other  that  have  been  promulgated 
up  to  this  time  upon  the  earth.  But  as  time  advances,  and  as 
our  race  grows  in  intelligence  and  manly  sincerity,  as  scientific 
facts  are  more  fully  learned,  we  shall  have  material  for  deduc- 
tions and  decisions  much  more  accurate  than  these.  And  then 
some  amendments  and  additions  to  the  little  code  of  principles 

219 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

of  religion  and  morality  here  presented  will  be  needed,  for  \ve 
should  hesitate  to  affirm  finalities  in  regard  even  to  the  most 
rational  of  the  accepted  truths  of  the  hour  in  which  we  live. 

Therefore  in  view  of  the  mental  progress  made  by  experi- 
ence and  mental  reflection,  which  must  have  a  tendency  to 
refine  and  perfect  the  human  mind,  I  deem  it  very  important 
that  at  least  as  often  as  once  in  ten  years  a  Religious  Society 
should  meet  in  a  convocation  for  the  revision  of  accepted  creeds, 
such  as  I  have  recommended  to  those  who  may  form  a  Society 
of  the  Bell  St.  Chapel. 

In  such  a  Society  we  want  the  strength  of  belief  and  faith 
which  the  older  forms  of  religious  organization  exercise  toward 
their  tenets.  We  want  also  the  charity  and  fraternal  feeling 
which  the  purest  members  of  those  organizations  exercise 
toward  each  other.  And  we  want  the  utmost  freedom  con- 
sistent with  unity,  and  a  constant  outlook  toward  future 
growth. 

And  in  order  to  establish  harmony  of  sentiment  and  unity 
of  aims  in  such  a  Society,  no  one  should  be  admitted  as  a  mem- 
ber who  is  not  guided  by  rational  principles  or  who  does 
not  manifest  a  certain  degree  of  intelligence. 

And  no  one  could  properly  become  a  member  of  such  a 
Society  who  did  not  perceive  and  acknowledge  the  existence 
of  some  Power  higher  than  the  human  mind,  to  which  is 
attributable  the  sustaining  of  the  laws  of  nature,  either  by 
direct  power  or  through  agencies. 


•220 


RHLIGIOXS  or  Till;   PAST.   PRESKXT  AND   Fl'TrRK. 


ON  THE  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 
OF  CHILDREN. 


I  believe  in  establishing  Sunday  Schools.  J  would  embrace 
in  the  teaching  of  such  schools  the  whole  duty  of  man  ;  relig- 
ious, moral  and  political  ;  and  also  such  teaching  as  would 
tend  toward  success  in  life  in  pecuniary  matters.  [  would 
teach  children  to  do  unto  others  as  they  would  feel  it  right  for 
others  in  like  circumstances  to  do  unto  them.  And  I  would 
also  teach  them  to  rely  as  much  as  possible  on  themselves,  and 
not  on  others  for  their  material  well-being  in  this  world. 

I  believe  that  for  the  maintenance  of  a  useful  religious 
school  for  the  instruction  of  children,  there  must  be  by  the 
parent  society,  under  whose  auspices  the  school  is  established, 
some  organization  on  definite  principles,  on  acknowledged 
codified  articles  of  belief.  And  I  believe  that  the  negative 
unbelievers  should  believe  something.,  and  teach  what  they 
believe  to  their  children.  When  the  Committee  of  the  Free 
Religious  Society  of  Providence  called  upon  me  to  ascer- 
tain if  I  would  give  them  the  use  of  my  Chapel  for  a  Sunday 
School,  my  first  question  was,  "What  do  you  propose  to 

221 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE   PAST.   PRESENT  AM)  FUTURE. 

teach?"  This  question  seemed  to  be  a  poser  and  remain.- 
still  unanswered.  Hence  I  was  obliged  to  decline  their 
request.  As  to  pupils  who  are  learning  from  intelligent 
lecturers  f  willingly  gave  the  Free  Keligious  Society  the  use 
of  the  vestry  of  the  Chapel.  But  I  have  always  been  unwilling 
to  use  the  audience-room  until  it  can  be  dedicated  to  some 
positive  principles  of  religion  and  morality.  And  I  could  not 
give  the  use  of  any  part  of  the  Chapel  for  a  Sunday  School 
unless  I  could  kno.w  what  was  intended  to  be  taught  therein. 

The  endowments  of  a  higher  power  of  reason  and  the 
accumulations  of  experience  may,  like  material  property,  be 
handed  down  to  our  posterity.  By  this  means  the  race  of 
mankind  gradually  approximates  toward  perfection.  But  to 
make  this  march  toward  perfection  sure  and  steady,  we  must 
each  and  all  of  us  seek  first  to  educate  and  perfect  ourselves, 
in  order  that  we  may  transmit  to  our  children  and  to  posterity 
the  accumulation  of  truths  and  principles  we  have  ourselves 
gathered.  And  we  must  also  simultaneously  with  our  own 
progress,  make  our  children  partakers  of  our  moral  and  relig- 
ious acquisitions  as  we  go  along.  The  constant  interchange 
of  ideas  of  right  and  wrong  must  take  place  among  old  and 
young. 

It  is  necessary  for  our  growth  that  the  best  guiding  prin- 
ciples of  religion  and  morality  should  be  fixed  in  our  minds. 
And  to  this  end  it  is  necessary  that  we  study  and  reflect  upon 
them,  repeating  them  in  various  forms  of  expression  but  try- 
ing always  to  convey  the  essence  of  the  principles  by  which 
we  should  be  governed.  Especially  is  this  course  of  frequent 

222 


RELIGIONS  OF   TIIK    I'AST.   I'KESKNT  AND  FL'TCRE. 

repetition^  of  accepted  triith^  necessary  in  ri'g'ard  to  the  educa- 
tion of  children.  Pareiit>  >hould  feel  hound  to  bring  up  tlirir 
children  in  such  manner  a>  will  CIIMIIV  not  onlv  their  own  well- 
being  in  tlii>  word,  hut  al-o  that  <»l'all  who  inav  he  connected 
with  them  in  clo>e  relations  of  life  hereafter:  and  they  should 
be  taught  an  ever  widening  interest  in  mankind  until  thcv  can 
say,  as  did  that  noble  man,  Thomas  Paine,  "The  world  is  my 
country  :  my  countrymen  are  all  mankind." 

The  most  effective  method  of  sustaining  any  system  of 
thought  or  religion  is  organization,  which  includes  the  teaching 
of  children  by  all  parents  and  teachers  what  is  esteemed  by 
them  to  be  the  truth.  I  believe  that  the  truths  and  deductions 
of  reason  taught  to  children  should  be  advanced  by  the  teacher 
in  a  spirit  of  humility  and  deference  to  the  possibility  and  even 
probability  of  a  future  gradual  change  in  the  human  mind 
which  will  modify  present  conceptions.  The  parent  and 
teacher  are  bound  to  give  the  child  what  seem  to  them  the  most 
advanced  and  the  truest  thoughts  of  the  age.  The  child  has  a 
claim  upon  the  parent  and  teacher  for  this,  and  nothing  more 
can  be  given  sincerely.  And  the  pupil  has  a  right  to  inquire 
of  his  teacher  by  what  evidence  he  has  arrived  at  the  results 
he  seeks  to  impart.  Truth,  wherever  it  actually  exists,  is  the 
product  of  facts  ;  and  that  teacher  is  to  be  condemned  who 
seeks  to  inspire  a  faith  in  any  statement  which  he  cannot  or 
will  not  attempt  to  justify  by  the  facts  and  evidences  which 
have  affected  his  own  mind. 

The  following  dialogue  represents  how  a  lesson  in  Sunday 
School  might  be  conducted. 

223 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  PRESENT  AM)   FUTURE. 


ON  THE  PATERNAL  CHARACTER  OF  GOD. 


Instructor:  "The  Power  above  all  human  power  i.s  emi- 
nently paternal.  The  laws  of  nature  are  unchangeable  in  their 
operation,  and  were  instituted  to  be  in  harmony  not  only  with 
man,  but  with  all  living  creatures,  and  with  the  highest 
development  of  this  world  and  of  the  whole  universe,  so  far  as 
the  knowledge  of  man  extends." 

Pupil:  "Is  there  responsibility  in  the  laws  themselves?" 
Instructor:  "There  is  no  responsibility  nor  substantiality 
in  the  laws  themselves;  any  more  than  there  is  responsibility 
in  your  five  senses  which  are  the  blind  instruments  to  serve 
your  mind,  which  resides  in  the  dark  chamber  of  your  skull. 
So  man  was  not  made  for  the  laws  of  nature,  but  the  laws  of 
nature,  as  manifested  in  this  world,  exist  to  subserve  the  well- 
being  of  man  and  of  every  living  thing.  And  these  laws  of 
nature  may  be  called  "the  modes  of  motion"  of  the  mind 
behind  them.  We  judge  of  God's  character  by  His  manifesta- 
tions through  these  laws.  God  is  invisible  to  mankind.  ~No 
man  ever  saw  the  mentality  or  spirit  of  nature ;  we  only  per- 
ceive the  effects  of  this  mentality.  And  it  is  equally  true  that 
no  man  ever  saw  the  mentality  existing  in  the  dark  chamber 
of  a  human  skull.  All  mind  is  invisible  to  our  senses,  but  we 
perceive  the  character  and  intents  of  mind,  both  in  man  and  in 
nature  at  large,  from  the  effects  of  its  manifestations.  We 

224 


OF  THE    PAST.    I'RICSKXT   AM)   FUTURE. 

perceive  (rod's  wisdom  and  goodness  as  we  do  that  of  a  human 
beiiiLi'  1  hroiiiih  hi-  acts. 

Pupil:      "It  i>  ver        leasant  to  live  in  this  beautiful  world. 


Instructor:  "I  believe  that  you  and  all  of  us  have  eome 
into  existence  by  the  will  and  power  oi'that  mind  or  influence 
\vc  call  •  (rod.* 

Pupil:      "Is  God  kind  and  good  ?" 

Instructor:  "God  is  the  source  of  all  kindness  and  the 
fountain  from  which  proceeds  everything  that  is  good." 

Pupil:  "My  mother  and  father  and  others  are  very  kind 
to  me;  but  no  one  of  them  is  the  God  you  speak  of." 

Instructor:  "No,  my  child,  but  the  spirit  of  kindness 
which  animates  each  and  all  of  them  is  the  spirit  of  God  Him- 
self which  is  manifested  through  them.  When  your  dear 
mother  smiles  and  caresses  you  it  is  really  God  that  smiles. 
His  kindness  is  manifested  through  your  father  and  your 
mother  and  all  others  who  treat  you  gently  and  are  good  to 
you." 

Pupil  :  u  Then  must  I  only  love  God,  since  from  him  pro- 
ceeds all  goodness?"  I  do  not  see  Him,  where  is  He?" 

Instructor:  "God  is  visible,  in  and  through  your  parents 
and  your  friends,  and  you  must  love  and  respect  God  through 
them.  It  is  God's  intent  that  you  should  love  your  father  and 
mother  and  friends,  and  in  loving  them  you  love  God,  since 
they  represent  Him." 

Pupil  :  "  How  wonderful  and  beautiful  is  everything  I  see 
in  this  world  !  How  good  God  must  be  to  give  me  loving 
friends." 

225 


RELIGIONS  OF  Till-:  PAST,   PRESENT  AM)    FUTURE. 

Instructor:     "Through  God  comes  all  your  blessing."7 

Pupil:  "'My  milk  is  from  the  cow,  my  bread  is  made  from 
wheat  grown  by  the  farmer,  my  fruits  are  from  the  orchard; 
To  whom  am  T  indebted  for  these  things V"" 

Instructor:  "All  these  gifts  come  from  God  for  lie  is  the 
great  furnisher  of  all  good  through  His  Divine  agencies;  He 
is  sometimes  called  the  '  Providence  of  Nature."  Kind  parents 
present  to  their  children  healthful  and  delicious  fruits.  But 
let  us  not  forget  that  first  of  all  we  owe  to  the  Divine  Father 
the  original  kind  conception  of  these  delicacies  created  to  the 
end  of  our  enjoyment  and  well-being.  Truly  God  is  behind 
all  our  blessings  and  entitled  to  our  highest  love  and  gratitude ! 
Parents  are  only  God's  authorized  loving  agents  to  act  for 
Him  ! " 

Let  us  all  be  grateful  to  God  ! 


226 


KI-:LK;I<  )\s  or  TIII-:  PAST.  PRESENT  AND  FL'TL'RE. 


BELL  STREET  CHAPEL. 


The  writer  has  Imili  a  Chapel  in  Bell  St..  Pi'ovidenCL1, 
which  up  to  thi>  time  has  never  been  dedicated,  but  which  he 
ho])es  soon  may  be  and  in  the  name  of  guiding  principles  of 
religion  essentially  modified  from  those  prevailing  among  the 
religious  sectarians  of  our  day.  His  honest  conviction  is  that 
the  views  he  wishes  to  have  presented  in  this  Chapel  are  an 
advance  toward  a  juster  appreciation  of  our  relations  with  the 
Divine  Power  than  those  now  popular.  He  feels  that  he  is 
actuated  by  pure  motives  in  seeking  to  present  these  advanced 
views  to  the  intelligent  consideration  of  the  public.  He  does 
not  in  the  least  impugn  the  sincerity  of  faith  and  conviction  of 
those  from  whom  he  differs.  He  realizes  that  the  holding  and 
propagating  what  he  believes  to  be  great  errors  in  religions 
opinion  has  not  prevented  millions  of  such  persons  from  lead- 
ing purest  lives  full  of  love  and  charity. 

The  writer  hopes  that  the  edifice  he  has  erected  may  be 
consecrated  to  the  study  of  the  character  of  the  Power  above 
humanity  whom  we  name  "God,"  whose  existence  the  writer 
acknowledges  with  a  sense  of  gratitude  and  a  sincere  desire  to 
ascertain  our  true  relations  to  this  great  Being.  He  hopes 
that  in  this  Chapel  may  be  studied  God's  manifested  will  and 

227 


RELIGIONS  OF  Till-:  PAST,  PRESENT  AND   FUTURE. 

intents  in  this  world  to  the  end  that  these  maybe  furthered,  in 
the  spirit  of  humility  and  gratitude,  to  I  he  full  extent  ol  our 
liberty  and  power.  A  sincere  voluntary  head  and  heart 
worship  is  now  proposed  as  the  true  religion  of  the  present, 
and  the  future,  and  the  only  return  in  man's  power  to  make  to 
the  wise  and  beneficent  Being  to  whom  he  owes  existence  and 
all  the  happiness  and  possibilities  of  happiness  that  life  com- 
prises. 

The  writer  respectfully,  submits  to  those  who  may  be 
interested  in  the  religious  movement  of  Bell  St.  Chapel  the 
following  formula  of  convictions ;  they  being,  as  he  believes,  a 
rational  advance  upon  the  popular  creeds  and  beliefs  of 
Christendom,  and  tending  to  elevate  our  conception  of  the 
character  and  true  dignity  of  God,  as  also  to  elevate  man  him- 
self in  his  own  estimation  to  the  true  dignity  which  is  his 
birthright. 

This  formula  is  to  the  writer's  mind,  an  attempt  to  explain 
the  true  relations  between  God  and  humanity;  comprising  a 
statement  of  the  highest  motives  which  should  influence  man- 
kind to  lead  moral  and  religious  lives.  And  he  asks  pardon 
if  in  this,  as  in  other  matters,  his  convictions  have  led  him  to 
express  his  ideas  in  too  affirmative  a  manner. 


228 


i  ION'S  <>r   TI1H    PAST.    PRESENT  AND   IT'TURE. 


GUIDING  PRINCIPLES   PROPOSED  AS  THE   BASIS 
OF  A  NEW  RELIGIOUS  SOCIETY. 

We  believe  in  the  existence  of  a  Power  other  and  immeasur- 
ably higher  than  the  human,  whose  character,  as  manifested  by 
the  phenomena  of  nature  and  human  lite,  is  wise  and  good. 

We  believe  that  while  the  human  mind  is  not  constituted 
to  comprehend  a  beginning  of  things,  we  may  comprehend 
the  character  of  a  living  and  sustaining  Power  working  through 
unchanging  laws  to  the  end  of  the  well-being  and  happiness 
of  every  organized  being  on  this  earth  from  man  downward. 

We  believe  that  mind  exists  always  associated  with  matter, 
and  that  all  organized  existences  are  each  in  their  several 
grades  constituted  with  powers  of  mind  which  enable  them 
easily  and  happily  to  perform  the  activities  which  properly 
appertain  to  their  grade  or  sphere  of  life. 

We  believe  that  to  man  is  given  large  measure  of  liberty, 
so  that  he  is  enabled  acting  individually  and  collectively  to 
create  circumstances,  to  be  virtuous  or  vicious,  and  that  to 
this  endowment  of  liberty  or  free-will  is  attached  responsibility 
for  the  effects  of  his  action  whether  those  effects  be  good  or 
evil. 

We  believe  that  man  is  subject  to  the  operation  of  unchange- 
able laws  of  God,  which,  founded  in  wisdom  and  goodness, 

229 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  PAST,  PRESENT  AND  FUTIRE. 

man  has  no  power  to  modify  or  change.  And  we  believe  the 
intelligent  man  is  wise  enough  to  perceive  that  these  laws  of 
God  are  in  harmony  with  his  own  well-being  and  happiness. 

We  believe  that  all  things  are  related  to  one  another,  and 
that  man  is  related  nearly  to  God  as  to  a  Divine  Father.  And 
a  study  of  the  relations  of  all  organized  existences  to  each 
other,  and  of  all  creatures  to  God,  has  given  us  the  conviction 
that  God  greatly  considers  and  cares  for  all  that  he  has 
created. 

We  believe  that  onr  relations  to  God  being  of  this  filial 
character  demand  of  ns  a  recognition  of  His  existence,  and 
acknowledgment  of  our  gratitude  to  Him  for  His  gifts  to  us. 

Recognizing  the  fact  of  our  own  existence  in  nature,  we 
would  assume  as  a  starting  point  of  religious  faith,  justified  by 
reason,  the  existence  of  a  wise  and  good  God,  the  Giver  of 
life. 

Recognizing  it  for  truth  that  relations  exist  between  us 
and  this  Higher  Power,  between  each  individual  and  his  family 
and  his  neighbor,  his  community,  his  country  and  the  world  of 
mankind,  and  recognizing  that  these  relations  involve  activities 
for  the  effects  of  which  we  are  responsible  whether  they  be 
good  or  evil,  we  would  assert  our  determination  to  be  guided 
by  the  highest  rules  of  action  toward  God  and  toward  our 
fellow-man. 

Recognizing  that  the  highest  well-being  of  all  demands  of 
each  a  pure,  just  and  honorable  life,  we  deem  it  for  our  best 
interests  to  unite  in  the  formation  of  a  Religious  Society  for 
cooperation  in  the  extension  of  knowledge  and  virtue. 

230 


RI-:LK;IONS  or  Tin:  PAST.  PKKSENT  AND  ITTUKK. 

And  in  -o  doing  \ve  doire  to  as.-crt,  and  pledge  ourselves 
to  he  guided  by  Mich  article.-  of  faith  and  belief  as  in  the  pre— 
c'lit  >tagc  <•!'  lli»'  de\  cl(  ipnieiit  <>!'  rea.-on  and  experience  we 
believe  arc  tin-  hot  \\hicli  can  be  kno\\n  and  followed. 

And  believing"  that  the  -tatcinciit  and  exercise  of  the  high- 
e-t  known  principle-  of  a  given  age.  is  tlic  \\  a v  to  bring  about 
natural  evolution  toward  a  higher  state  of  inoral>  and  better 
conceptions  of  religious  duty,  we  would  be  honest  in  our 
expression-  of  convictions  of  right,  and  earnest  in  guiding  by 
them  our  own  actions.  To  further  these  ends  we  would  con- 
secrate a  temple  to  God,  to  Truth,  and  to  all  that  dignifies  and 
.ennobles  Humanity. 

We  define  Religion  to  be  the  voluntary  performance  of  all 
duties  growing  out  of  our  relations  with  God. 

We  define  Morality  to  be  the  performance  of  all  known 
duties  growing  out  of  our  relations  with  each  other. 

"We  desire  to  form  a  Society  to  show  by  facts  and  truths 
the  real  relations  of  man  to  a  higher  Power,  to  name  and 
explain  the  nature  of  all  religious  duties  growing  out  of  these 
relations  with  God,  and  to  persistently  advocate,  through  a 
permanent  organization,  the  constant  performance  of  these 
duties. 

And  we  would  also,  through  the  same  Society,  show  the 
true  moral  relations  of  man  with  his  fellow  creatures,  name 
and  explain  the  varied  duties  which  grow  out  of  these  rela- 
tions, and  persistently  teach  that  the  performance  of  these 
duties  will  result  in  the  increased  happiness  and  well-being  of 
the  human  family. 

231 


RELIGIONS   Or  Till':   PAST.   PRESENT   AND   FUTURE. 

And  whereas  God  in  giving  us  dominion  lor  our  use  and 
pleasure  over  innocent  and  defenceless  animals,  has  confided 
in  our  justice  and  consideration  toward  them  that  thev  shall 
he  treated  kindly  and  in  accordance  with  their  comfort  and 
well-being1,  to  act  thus  toward  all  lower  animals  is  a  positive 
duty,  growing  out  of  our  relations  with  God,  as  well  as  with 
these  animals,  since  to  treat  them  unkindly  would  be  to  prove 
ourselves  unworthy  of  the  confidence  God  lias  placed  in  us. 

We  believe  in  the  divine  influence  of  intelligence  and 
nobility  of  mind,  and  of  the  unselfish  emotions  of  the  heart, 
wherever  found,  whether  in  man,  or  in  higher  or  lower  grades 
of  existence. 

We  believe  that  the  great  and  noble  Mind  and  Heart  of  the 
universe  above  the  human,  whether  acting  as  one  single  Power, 
or  as  many  Powers,  or  through  agencies,  has  given  life  to  man 
and  to  all  grades  of  existence  free  from  onerous  conditions 
which  it  would  be  hard  and  painful  to  fulfil. 

And  we  believe  that  the  acme  of  man's  privilege  is  the 
enjoyment  of  ever  living  nearer  to  God;  and  we  would  live 
nearer  to  Him. 

As  a  Society  we  would  aim  at  nothing  less  than  the  per- 
fection of  the  human  race  in  physical,  mental  and  moral  well- 
being.  And  we  believe  that  man,  possessed  of  liberty  within 
the  bounds  of  the  laws  of  nature,  has  the  power  to  perfect 
himself. 

As  a  Society  we  should  have  no  desire  to  diminish  in  any 
sect  the  religious  sentiment  or  devotional  spirit ;  far  otherwise ! 
We  should  aim  to  increase  and  purify  this  spirit  of  devotion 

232 


REUNIONS  OF  THE   PAST.   PRESENT  AND  FUTURE. 

1)}'  presenting1  a  truer  object  of  inspiration,  and  by  giving 
>oiind  reasons  for  the  cultivation  of  the  religions  sentiment. 

Being  endowed  with  reason,  with  a  natural  sense  of  justice, 
with  moral  consciousness  which  enables  us  to  distinguish 
between  good  and  evil,  we  can  know  and  appreciate  our  own 
character  and  that  of  others.  And  this  same  basis  ol'  judg- 
ment we  must  depend  upon  in  estimating  the  character  of  the 
Power  above  the-  human.  No  "  persistent  force,"  no  mere 
power,  would  justify  our  homage  and  worship.  There  must 
be  a  high  moral  quality  to  justly  win  our  adoration;  and  no 
teachings  of  any  religion  justify  us  in  worshipping'  a  God 
inferior  in  moral  traits  to  the  highest  human  character.  Hence 
we  would  use  our  perception  and  appreciation  of  the  best  in 
man  and  woman  as  the  revelation  and  faint  type  of  the  per- 
fections of  God. 

Let  us  found  a  society  of  earnest  and  honest  Truth-seekers, 
adopting  a  religion  so  simple,  so  reasonable,  and  so  in  har- 
mony with  the  dignity  of  both  God  and  man,  that  all  can 
exercise  and  share  in  it!  On  the  simple  and  great  principles 
of  acknowledgment  of  the  existence  of  God  and  gratitude  to 
Him,  and  devotion  to  duty,  we  trust  that  the  devotees  of  every 
existing  religion  may  harmoniously  unite. 


233 


INVOCATIONS 


AND 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 


NVOCATIONS 


AND 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, 


INVOCATION. 

Father  of  all!  AVith  humility  and  with  hearts  filled  with 
.gratitude,  we  should  bow  before  Thee  who  art  our  friend'behind 
all  other  friends.  While  we  exercise  the  precious  privilege  of 
being  virtuous  and  intelligent  we  have  no  fear  of  the  benign 
laws  of  Mature  which  are  instituted  in  wisdom  and  kindness. 
Man  only  do  we  need  to  fear;  who  endowed  with  freedom  to 
be  virtuous  or  vicious,  and  given  reason  and  experience  to 
guide  him,  yet  often  becomes  unjust  and  cruel  toward  his 
fellow-man.  Although  in  his  freedom  man  may  thus  become 
an  author  of  evil,  yet  by  no  special  Providence  dost  Thou 
interfere  in  human  affairs:  that  injustice  is  never  committed 
by  Thee. 

We  thank  Thee  for  our  existence  and  for  all  the  joys  of 
life.  And  above  all  we  thank  Thee  for  the  precious  privilege 

237 


INVOCATIONS  AND  ACKN(  JWLMIHjMICNTS. 
which    it    i>    possible  for    all    to   enjoy   of  having    Thy    Divine 

1  •'      *J  i '  », 

Indwelling  Spirit    in  our  minds  and  hearts. 

Heavenly  Father!  Ma}'  we  s<  ek  will)  a  sincere  heart,  and 
all  the  intelligence  \ve  can  command,  to  know  Thee  as  Thoti 
art.  We  know  that  all  of  goodness,  all  of  intelligence,  that 
men  possess  individually  or  collectively,  are  hut  as  drops  from 
ihe  ocean  of  goodne.ss  and  intelligence  which  form  Thy  char- 
acter. Our  opportunities  and  our  capabilities  enable  us  to 
become  worthy  to  be  called  Thy  children,  and  to  be  feeble 
types  o('  Thee.  We  believe  that  a  real  knowledge  of  Thy 
character  enables  us  to  cast  out  fear  of  Thee  from  our  hearts. 
And  we  believe  that  in  all  the  varied  races  of  mankind  lie  wha 
looks  up  to  Thee  for  approval,  with  sincere  endeavor  and 
honest  intent  to  know  and  do  the  right,  feels  within  Thy 

approving   smile,  which  is  not  denied  to  the  ignorant  of  the 

• 

earth. 

Heavenly  Father,  while  it  is  not  given  to  our  finite  minds- 
to  comprehend  a  beginning  of  life,  yet  we  feel  assured  that 
we,  and  every  living  creature,  are  constantly  sustained  in  life 
by  Thy  wisdom  and  kindness. 

INVOCATION   TO  THE  SUPREME. 

Father  of  All,  who  continually  workest  for  good,  in  humble 
acknowledgment  I  thank  Thee  for  life,  and  all  the  good  that 
life  comprises.  By  no  principle  of  justice  known  among  men 
had  I  any  claim  to  existence,  yet  Thon  hast  given  me  life  and 
a  glorious  liberty  of  action.  Thou  hast  given  me  parents  and 
kindred.  These  I  love,  as  they  love  me;  but  behind  alt 

238 


less,  and  the  kind  Ant  ior  of  inman  ove.  I  he  only  return  I 
•an  ma  \e  to  1'liee  for  the  blessings  of  life  is  to  consecrate  to 
Thee  the  deepest  gratitude  of  inv  heart,  and  to  further  Thv 
<\ind  intent  toward  me  by  enjoving  ftdly  and  rationally  all  the 
happines^  comprised,  in  Thv  precious  gift  of  life. 

INVOCATION. 

Divine  Father!  Since  dust  has  no  claim  to  be  organized 
into  human  life,  but  is  indebted  to  Thy  wisdom,  power  and 
love  for  its  organization  into  a  happy  consciousness;  so,  be 
our  human  life  short  or  long,  haviitg  no  claim  to  any  duration 
of  it,  we  should  recognize  Thy  goodness  and  be  grateful  to 
Thee  for  the  much  or  little  Thou  givcst  -us  of  this  precious 
human  existence.  Heavenly  Father,  I  thank  Thee  for  life 
and  for  all  the  happiness  and  well-being  that  life  may  comprise. 

INVOCATION. 

Father  of  All,  if  in  Thy  wisdom  Thou  hast  deemed  it 
fittest  that  Thy  personality  should  be  invisible  to  man,  yet 
Thy  character  of  wisdom,  beneficence  and  love  is  as  visible  as 
the  Sun!  And  if  that  Sun  is  not  Thy  central  residence,  and 
the  great  reservoir  of  Thy  mind  and  heart,  we  may  be  per- 
mitted to  believe  that  in  its  glorious  effulgence  and  beneficent 
influence  upon  the  earth,  it  fitly  symbolizes  Thee  to  our  minds. 
Thou  art  indeed  to  us  the  Sun!  Flooding  our  souls  with  rays 
*of  universal  benevolence ! 

239 


INVOCATIONS  AND  AL'KX()\\  LKD(  JMKNTx 

INVOCATION.  ON    LIBERTY. 

Divine  Father,  we  thank  Thee  lor  existence  and  the  dignit  v 
-conferred  upon  mankind  by  the  power  of  liberty  in  thinking 
and  acting'  for  ourselves,  which  enables  us  to  lead  virtuous 
lives,  and  to  enjoy  the  beneficial  effects  resulting  therefrom. 
]$v  study  and  reflection  we  mav  increase  our  intelligence,  and 

•/  •/  « 

by  humble  imitation  of  Thy  character  we  may  become  good 
and  in  every  way  charitable  towards  those  who  require  the 
exercise  of  these  virtues.  We  acknowledge  and  thank  Thee 
for  the  precious  gift  of  our  freedom  even  if  it  leads  us  into  the 
paths  of  error,  whose  effects  are  mentally  and  physically  pain- 
ful to  us.  We  thank  Thee  for  the  kindly  reformatory  conse- 
quences which  Thou  hast  annexed  to  error,  carelessness,  and 
crime,  for  these  without  annihilating  our  sense  of  freedom  and 
liberty,  lead  us  back  to  a  closer  observance  of  Thy  divine 
laws,  which  Thou  hast  instituted  in  wisdom  and  love  to  the 
end  of  the  perfection  of  human  happiness  in  all  our  relations 
with  Thee  and  in. our  relations  with  our  fellow  creatures. 

INVOCATION. 

Divine  Father,  we  feel  it  to  be  a  high  duty  and  privilege 
to  meet  together  and  voluntarily  and  gratefully  acknowledge 
Thee  as  the  source  of  all  intelligence  and  goodness !  Yet  we 
ought  also  to  feel,  judging  from  thy  character  of  concreted 
love  and  disinterestedness  revealed  to  us  by  Thy  manifested 
laws,  that  still  more  acceptable  to  Thee  than  such  recognition 
of  Thy  wisdom  and  love,  would  be  our  united  efforts  to  make' 

240 


INVOCATION       \N'h    \CKNOYVLKDGMEXTS. 

.ncii  ^Mod  ;un  hap  iy.  Far  mure  acceptable  to  Thee  would  it 
;'<'  I'M'  II-  each  Mini  ;i!i  ]i>  >j>c  our  li;Hlli';|]  freedom  ;lll(l  libel'l'V 
""  tih-  111!!  eXtelM  ')!'  uUl'  pu\vel'  In  ilKTeasC  tile  -11111  of  lllllliail 

happiuc--.  Km1  1»\  so  doing  \\v  -JKMI  d  raise  liiiinan  nature  to 
:ts  t  I'll"  din'!  lily,  and  in  •conic  i  ii\  cd-\vorkci's  in  all  thai  i»  ^nnd 
in  thi>  iicaiilit'iil  \\-orld.  which  i-  especially  -'ixeu  i<»  mail  a-  liis 
sj  ihel'e  i  «j  improve  ! 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

Divine  Father.  "We  rceoguixe  Thy  existence  by  Thy 
counties*  manifestations  visible  in  nature  and  in  ourselves! 
Thy  wise  and  loving  character  is  shown  bv  and  through  all 

•/  »/  d5 

])henomena.  God  of  all  nature!  Xo  human  mind  'can  con- 
ceive of  the  height  and  breadth  of  Thy  power,  of  the  vastness 
of  Thy  intelligence,  or  of  the  depth  of  Thy  great  heart  of 
goodness!  Divine  Father,  we  do  know  that  all  life  on  this 
earth  is  indebted  to  Thee  for  its  existence;  that  through  the 
intelligent  power  and  kind  influence  of  Thy  Divine  mind  the 
laws  of  nature  came  into  being;  and  we  do  know  that  Thou 
hast  created  us  with  minds  to  comprehend  Thy  natural  laws 
and  with  wills  to  conform  our  lives  to  their  commands.  We 
do  know  that  our  happiness  and  well-being  in  this  world 
depend  upon  our  obedience  to  these  laws;  we  know  that  our 
minds  and  our  lives  should  be  governed  by  the  divine  princi- 
ples Thou  hast  instituted  for  our  guidance;  that  we  should  be 
just,  kind  and  fraternal  in  all  our  relations  with  our  fellow- 
creatures.  We  also  know  that  we  should  cultivate  our  own 

241  • 


INVOCATIONS  AM)  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

sounds,   and    honestly   and    earnestly  give    to    the    young'    the, 
ri'snlts  of  our  searching   after  truth,  to  the  end   thai  lliey  mav 

cj  +j  •. 

more   easily  learn   their  true   relations  wit  li   Thee  and    with   all 
creatures. 

Divine  Father,  while  we  humbly  acknowledge  that  no 
human  being'  can  fathom  the  depth  of  Thy  wisdom.  Thy 
power.  Thy  noble  disinterestedness  and  Thy  love,  yet  we 
jnay  fee]  assured  that  since  Thou  art  behind  all  of  good  in 
our  lives.  Thy  love  for  each  and  all  of  us  is  not  less  than  that 
of  a  kind  father  to  his  offspring,  or  Thy  affection  less  intense 
than  that  of  a  mother  toward  her  child!  Though  Thou 
requires!  of  Thy  dependent  creatures  no  homage,  no  gratitude, 
no  faith  in  thy  existence  even;  though  Thou  makes!  no 
demand  nor  hath  need  of  any  return  from  us;  yet,  since  Thou 
hast  dignified  and  ennobled  humanity  with  freedom  of  action, 
we,  using  this  high  privilege,  would,  meeting  in  the  house 
dedicated  to  Thee,  acknowledge  with  deep  and  sincere  grati- 
tude and  love  our  indebtedness  to  Thee.  And  we  would 
acknowledge  that  it  is  our  duty,  as  it  is  our  greatest  honor,  to 
co-operate  with  Thee  to  the  extent  of  our  power  in  making 
our  own  lives  and  those  of  our  fellow-creatures  better  and 
happier. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

Heavenly  Father!  By  virtue  of  the  liberty  and  intelligence 
with  which  we  are  endowed  we  claim  relationship  with  Thee, 
Tve  claim  to  be  Thy  children,  since  our  creation  is  the  highest 
conception  of  Thy  divine  mind.  We  are  conscious  that  we 


1  hee.  in  ci  iinniii  i  ic  111  oiii'  minds  with  Thv  mind,  and 
HIM-  |)l;icc  our>elve>  in  harmonv  with  Thee  and  with  each 
"tiicr!  I  >i\  inc  Kather.  \vc  iii;mk  rriicc  for  ihc  inl't-.  of  reason 
;iiid  judgment.  l<>r  i  he  -cii-e  of  justice  l»v  which  we  are 
enabled  in  perceive  Thv  inic  character  and  learn  our  rela- 
tion-, with  Thee  and  with  our  fellow-creatures.  We  thank 
Thee  for  memory,  which  garners  our  experiences  and 
.activities  as  lime  advances,  for  our  instruction.  Divine 
Father,  \\  e  thank  Thee  that  while  in  all  aii'es  peculiar  jovs 
have  been  Driven  to  the  discoverers  of  truth  in  all  things,  yet 
Thy  smile,  typified  by  a  irood  conscience,  has  never  been  with- 
held from  those  who  though  cherishing1  error  sincerely  believe 
and  act  in  accordance  with  the  best  they  know.  Power 
Supreme,  we  acknowledge  that  it  is  our  duty  to  Thee  and  to 
ourselves  to  advance  our  own  well-being  in  this  world.  Using 
the  mind,  and  freedom  of  action,  of  which  we  find  ourselves 
in  possession,  we  should  try  to  search  out  truth,  to  ascertain 
our  true  relations  with  Thee  and  to  each  other,  that  we  may 
grow  ever  toward  perfection. 

We  have  nothing  to  ask  of  Thee,  nothing  to  beg,  nothing 
to  pray  for;  Thou  hast  already  g^iven  us  all  that  is  necessary 
for  our  well-being  in  this  beautiful  world.  Thou  hast  given 
ns  the  inestimable  boon  of  freedom  to  walk  in  the  paths  of 
goodness  or  to  follow  the  ways  of  evil.  .  We  live  under  Thy 
wise  and  beneficent  laws,  with  power  to  make  our  social  laws 
harmonize  with  them,  to  the  end  of  human  well-being.  Kind 
Father,  we  gladly  accept  this  freedom  and  the  responsibility 


INVOCATIONS   AM)  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

which  Thou  hast  linked  with  it.  I»y  it  we  are  distinguished 
from  the  lower  animals  and  become  masters  of  the  world. 
Infinite  in  dignity,  power,  and  goodness,  Thou  dost  with 
benignity  look  upon  any  ingratitude  of  man  towards  Thee, 
for  comprehending  all  things.  Thou  knowest  that  such  ingrati- 
tude springs  from  man's  ignorance  and  his  want  of  perception 
of  Thy  character. 

Divine  Father,  we  would  he  enabled  to  perceive  and  to 
gratefully  acknowledge  that  life  has  value  to  us  even  in  its 
less  fortunate  conditions.  And  in  all  trouble  and  anxiety 
Thou  hast  given  us  the  companionship  of  liope  to  cheer  and 
sustain  us.  We  believe  that  Thou  hast  confided  to  man  the 
achievement  of  his  own  perfection  in  happiness  and  well-being. 
We  believe  that  Thou  hast  given  us  all  that;  we  need  in  intel- 
ligence and.  in  power  of  activity  to  accomplish  this  task. 
Father  of  All,  Thy  gii'ts  are  abundant  and  precious;  and  we 
have  the  privilege  of  knowing  and' obeying  Thy  laws. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

Kind  Father!  having  no  claim  to  existence,  Thou  hast 
given  us  conscious  life,  the  grand  gift  in  which  is  comprised 
all  of  well-being  and  happiness  we  enjoy  from  Birth  to  Death! 
Divine  Father!  we  thank  Thee  for  all  the  joys  we  experience 
from  the  dawn  of  our  existence  to  the  present  hour!  We  owe 
to  Thee  the  love  of  our  mothers,  who  are  the  favored  repre- 
sentatives of  Thy  own  tender  and  considerate  care  for  us! 
We  thank  Thee  for  the  pure  innocence  of  childhood,  and  the 
emotions  of  love  and  affection  that  spring  up  in  the  minds 

244 


and  heart-  of  children  tnward>  their  parent-,  their  -i-ters. 
and  their  brother-.  ihn>  unilyiug  in  families  Thv  kind  love 
and  affect  ion  for  all  mankind  !  \\'e  thank  Thee  for  1  he  bu«'>vant 
hopes  welling  up  in  (tin1  mind-,  \\hieh  like  Thv  -mile-  .if 
encouragement  accompany  11-  through  life  in  all  our  worthy 
pur-nit-.  I)ivine  Father!  whil.-t  in  the  nobilitv  ol'  Thy  threat 
mind  and  heart  I  nou  reipmv-t  of  u^  no  homau'e.  no  worship, 
yet  we  thank  Thee-  that  we  are  permitted  of  our  own  free 
will,  voluntarily,  to  consecrate  to  Thee  our  purest  gratitude- 
and  love,  as  to  our  first,  last  and  best  friend  on  earth.  And 
when  at  last  the  beautiful  drama  of  life  closes  upon  each  of  us 
in  our  turn,  when  by  the  wise  fiat  of  Thy  law.  the  curtain  falls 
and  shuts  from  our  sight  all  of  life,  may  our  last  thoughts  be 
those  of  gratitude  and  thankfulness  for  our  existence,  whether 
our  life  be  long,  or  short.  And  may  we  die  full  of  faith  and 
trust,  that  having  freely  and  kindly  given  us  the  great  blessing 
of  Life,  Thou  wilt  not  make  Death,  coining  from  Thy  wise 
and  beneficent  hand,  a  great  misfortune. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

O  God !  Though  we  have  no  claim  to  life,  Thou  hast  through 
Thy  wise  and  beneficent  laws  permitted  our  existence!  Thou 
gavest  us  parents,  delegating  them  to  act  for  Thee  in  all  their 
loving  care  for  ns.  Thou  hast  given  us  infancy,  youth,  and 
mature  age  with  all  their  varied  joys  and  happy  experiences ! 
To  Thee  first  of  all  we  owe  our  purest  love  and  deepest  heart- 
felt gratitude,  since  Thou  art  our  first  true  friend  and  bene- 
factor! Thou  art  the  Author  of  the  natural  ties  that  bind  us- 


245 

<• 


INVOCATIONS  AND  ACKN(  )\VJJ:i)(i.M  i:\TS. 

to  existence;   Thou   art    behind    parents,  brothers,  sisters   and 
near  and  dear  relations  and  friends.      Thou  art    the    Source   of 
all  our  blessings  and    enjoyments  in   this  world;   so  should    we 
all    obev  Tliv  laws,    studv  Thy  Will,   and   through    our  power 

«  »  V  V  Jt 

of   freedom    to    act.   should     we    cooperate    with    Thee    in   the1 
fulfilment  of  all    Thy  beneficent  intent. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

Heavenly  Father!  I  thank  Thee  (or  the  gift  of  life  and  all 
the  happiness  and  possibilities  of  happiness  that  life  implies. 
All  Thy  natural  laws  are  instituted  in  wisdom  and  kindness  to 
the  end  that  all  mankind  and  all  living  creatures  may  in  their 
sphere  be  happy.  With  existence1  Thou  hast  endowed  us 
with  liberty  of  thought  and  action,  free  from  onerous  condi- 
tions towards  Thyself,  that  might  deduct  from  life  its  value. 
Xo  system  of  worship,  no  belief  in  creeds,  no  acknowledgments, 
no  gratitude  even,  is  demanded  or  required  by  Thee,  of  Thy 
poor  dependent  children.  Xo  prayers,  no  servility,  no  adula- 
tion from  man  can  change  Thy  Will  as  wisely  and  kindly 
expressed  through  Thy  laws  of  nature. 

Heavenly  Father,  wisdom,  disinterestedness,  and  benevo- 
lence are  concreted  in  Thy  character;  and  we  may,  altho. 
Thou  dost  not  demand  it,  of  our  own  free  will  humbly 
approach  Thee  and  offer  voluntarily  our  tribute  of  love  and 
gratitude  for  the  gift  of  life  and  all  its  attendant  blessings. 
This  we  may  do  without  fear  that  our  omission  to  do  so,  will 
bring  from  Thee  condemnation  and  punishment,  and  without 
expectation  that  by  so  doing  we  shall  receive  any  reward 

240 


oilier  l  i;in  ;i  con>cioii-ne-s  of  doinir  all  that  we  can  do.  he  it 
ever  -<>  itllc.  1 1  \  way  of  return  lor  all  'Thou  hast  bestowed 
Upon  11-.  \\  c  ackno\\  edge.  Kind  Father,  that  to  perform  our 
llighe-1  dlltle^  111  llle  i-  to  e\erc]-e  olil'  highest  |  M'l  \  i  leii'cs,  and 
tin-  highe-t  happities-  man  can  reali/e  is  the  consciousness  of 
performing  hi-  duties  in  his  relations  with  Thee,  and  in  all 
hi-  relation-  with  his  fellou  creature-. 

LIBERTY  AND   DITY  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

Heavenly  Father!  With  all  the  strength  of  our  minds,  and 
with  grateful  hearts,  we  hnmhly  acknowledge  Thee  as  the 
source  of  all  good.  Thou  hast  given  us  this  vast  planet  as  our 
iidieritance.  Thou  hast  endowed  us  with  Liberty,  which  next 
to  life  is  the  greatest  boon  of  existence,  a  gift  which  elevates 
man  above  all  other  existences  on  this  globe.  As  Thy  power 
and  will  are  infinite,  so  is  the  power  and  will  of  man  finite 
and  limited.  With  man's  liberty  of  action  Thou  hast  wisely 
and  kindly  given  him  the  natural  activities  of  his  nature. 
Thou  hast  endowed  him  with  senses,  with  mental  percep- 
tions and  powers  of  reasoning,  by  which  he  may  comprehend 
his  true  relations  with  Thee.  Thou  dost  enable  him  to 
•comprehend  also  his  duties  in  all  his  relations  with  his  fellow 
creatures;  those  duties  the  conscientious  observance  of  which 
will  promote  the  individual  and  collective  happiness  of  all 
mankind.  • 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS  FOR  LIBERTY. 
Divine  Father!    we  thank  Thee  that   in  the   constitution 
of   our   minds,  so    admirably  varied    in    powers,  Thou    hast 

247 


INVOCATIONS  AND  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

endowed  tlu'in  with  the  quality  and  power  of  Liberty!  Under 
the  reign  of  Thy  infinite  power,  and  under  the  natural  laws 
i»v  which  all  of  creation  is  sustained  and  governed,  we  are 
endowed  with  that  degree  of  freedom  which  permits  n-  to 
honor  and  dignify  human  nature,  by  cooperating  with  'Thee 
in  our  humble  way,  to  farther  Thy  wise  and  beneficent  aim-- 
and  intents  in  Thy  relations  with  this  world.  Heavenly 
Father!  we  thank  Thee  for  the  completeness  of  this  freedom. 
that  permits  us  to  take  upon  ourselves  all  the  responsibilities 
and  consequences  of  opposing  even  in  a  degree  'Thy  will  and 
Divine  intents  in  our  behalf!  We  thank  Thee,  and  acknowledge 
that  the  exercise  of  this  great  gift  of  Liberty  has  placed  us 
in  the  scale  of  being  above  all  other  animals  in  this  world! 
Our  natural  freedom  raises  and  dignifies  us  in  our  own  eyes 
and  in  Thy  estimation,  when  we  use  Thy  great  gift  of  liberty 
in  the  furtherance  of  all  good,  and  in  opposition  to  all  evil  in 
this  world!  We  thank  Thee,  kind  Father,  that  we  are  not 
humbled  and  made  of  no  account  in  our  own  estimation  by 
any  special  interference  on  Thy  part  with  human  liberty,  and 
the  affairs  of  our  race,  other  than  by  guiding  principles  and 
laws  of  nature,  established  in  Thy  wisdom  and  goodness,  to 
the  end  of  sustaining  in  existence  all  things!  We  also  thank 
Thee,  kind  Father,  for  the  limitations  of  human  liberty,  in  our 
power  of  creating  and  perpetuating  evil  in  this  world!  Thou 
hast  permitted  to  exist  in  our  minds  the  clear  perception  of 
what  is  good  and  what  is  evil,  with  liberty  and  power  to 
avoid  the  evil  and  choose  the  good,  and  we  thank  Thee,  that 
Thou  hast  kindly  attached  good  consequences  to  virtuous 

248 


\\iih  the  diirnitv  which  ii  confer-!  By  its  best  use,  we  can 
a>-imilate  »(\r  nature  in  ;i  decree  t<»  Thv  di\ine  character,  am! 
by  it-  miMi-e  and  abn-e,  we  create  in  "iir  individual  and  col- 
lective action  all  the  evil  which  c\i>ls  in  this  world,  and  iron, 
which  we  are  justlv  MiHering  the  con>equence>.  Kind  Father! 
"We  acknowledge  with  grateful  hearts  that  tliei'e  is  nothing  we 
can  reasonably  ask  of  Thee,  since  Thou  hast  already  bestowed 
upon  us  the  power,  the  libertv  and  the  faculties  under  Thv 
divine  laws,  to  provide  for  ourselves  all  that  we  need  for  our 
happiness  and  content.  And  especially  do  we  thank  Thee 
for  the  privilege  which  the  boon  of  liberty  confers,  of  exer- 
cising towards  Thee  the  purest  and  deepest  gratitude  of  our 
hearts.  Thou,  with  Thy  great  beneficent  heart  and  intelligent 
mind,  art  the  cause  of  our  existence,  and  behind  all  the  happi- 
ness we  enjoy  in  this  beautiful  world.  And  we  would  ever 
be  grateful  to  Thee. 

CONSECRATION   OF   A   CHILD. 

Divine  Father!  We  would  gratefully  acknowledge  that 
-having  no  claim  to  existence,  through  Thy  power  and  good- 
ness we  exist.  Thou  art  behind  all  of  goodness,  intelligence, 
and  well-being  that  we  enjoy.  All  are  born  of  Thee,  and  in 
ushering  us  into  this  beautiful  world,  Thou  hast  provided  all 
that  is  needed  for  our  welfare.  The  mother  in  her  tender  care 
and  love  for  her  offspring  acts  as  Thy  honored  agent,  for 
"Thou  hast  constituted  her  loving  nature  to  represent  Thy 

24U 


INVOCATIONS   AND   ACKNOYVLKDGMKNTS. 

love  and  will.  The  smile  of  the  infant  upon  its  mother.  i>  Th\ 
smile  of  encourageinent  given  thi'ough  the  infant.  infuHU^ 
into  her  mind  the  joy  that  mothers  feel  in  the  well-being  of 
their  children.  The  father,  constituted  with  greater  strength 
of  body,  is  better  fitted  to  work  in  rough  places  than  the 
mother;  so  he  is  permitted  to  find  his  happiness  by  cooperating 
in  laboring  cheerfully  for  the  welfare  of  his  cherished  family, 
which  Thou  hast  kindly  confided  to  his  care. 

Heavenly  Father!  Thou  hast  attached  no  unreasonable 
conditions  to  the  precious  gift  of  life!  Of  all  Thy  gifts  to 
mankind,  that  of  freedom  of  Will  is  the  greatest,  and  the  one 
which  dignifies  man  above  all  other  living  creatures  in  this 
world.  We  gratefully  accept  this  precious  Freedom,  with  all 
its  attendant  responsibilities  and  consequeiR-es;  this  freedom 
of  thought,  leading  to  honest  convictions  of  duty,  is  the  birth- 
right given  by  Thee  to  every  child  born  into  the  world.  And 
we  should  not  seek  to  restrain  our  children's  freedom  of 
thought  when  time  and  reflection  mature  their  ability  to  think 
for  themselves.  And  now,  Kind  Father,  we  voluntarily  bind 
ourselves  to  the  exercise  of  our  own  best  intelligence  to  edu- 
cate and  advance  the  happiness  of  this  child  whom  Thou  hast 
confided  to  our  care  and  affection.  We  know  that  we  shall 
feel  Thy  smile  of  approbation  in  our  consciences  even  if  we, 
sincerely  striving  after  truth,  should  fail  to  find  in  its  educa-^ 
tion  the  perfect  way;  for  Thou  judgest  all  of  us,  by  the  best 
intentions  of  the  mind  and  heart.  Amen. 


250 


i'!i\    lar-rcachinir  wisdom 


this  heaut  il'ul  world.  We  have  the  pouer  to  master  I!K' 
wild  forces  of  Nature:  and  by  obedience  to  the  unchangeable 
laws  which  Thou  ha>t  in>titiilcd  we.  as  individuals,  as  commu- 
uitics  and  as  nations,  can  place  ourselves  in  harmony  with 
Xaturc  and  live  nearer  to  Thee. 

AVe  acknowledge  our  responsibility,  and  that  in  violating 
Thy  laws  we  justly  entail  upon  ourselves  the  evils  we  may 
nil  Her;  and  we  acknowledge  also  that  it  is  our  duty  to  organize 
to  learn  and  honestly  teaeh  the  truth.  Amen. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

O  Thou  great  and  beneficent  Power,  whose  presence  is 
seen  and  felt  in  all  around  us  and  in  ourselves,  we  have  nothing 
but  humble  acknowledgments  to  make  to  Thee  for  the  gift 
of  life,  with  its  manifold  blessings.  We  can  make  no  return  to 
Thee,  we  have  nothing  to  offer  Thee,  but  our  grateful  hearts 
and  a  determination  to  further  Thine  intents  and  purposes  as 
they  shall  become  manifest  to  our  minds.  To  obey  the  laws 
which  Thou  hast  instituted  and  thus  place  ourselves  in  harmony 
with  Thee  and  with  Nature,  is  our  highest  privilege  and  our 
highest  duty.  Kind  Father,  we  have  nothing  to  ask  of  Thee! 
Thou  hast  already  givon  us  every  means  by  which  to  perfect  our 
happiness  in  this  world.  As  humble  recipients  of  Thy  bounty, 
therefore,  we  would  with  grateful  hearts  pay  homage  to  Thy 
power  and  unfailing  Goodness.  Amen. 

251 


NOTE. 

The  following  passages  were  culled  from  manuscript  not 
discovered  until  after  the  main  body  of  the  book  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  printer. 


A    MANLY   PLEDGE. 


A  MANLY  PLEDGE  IN   REGARD  TO  WOMAN. 

By  the  memory  of  my  mother,  whom  God  appointed  my 
loving  guardian  through  infancy,  and  who  loved  me  through 
life,  I  solemnly  promise  that  I  will  never  do  harm  to  any  woman. 
The  mental  and  physical  constitution  of  woman  in  many  ways 
superior  to  that  of  man,  makes  her  naturally  dependent  upon 
him  in  some  respects,  and  leads  her  naturally  to  confide  in  him; 
and  I  hereby  pledge  my  honor  never  to  cheat  or  deceive  a 
woman  in  any  way,  but  to  do  all  in  my  power  to  prevent  her 
being  cheated  or  deceived  by  others.  By  the  love  and  respect 
I  bear  my  mother,  my  sister,  my  wife,  and  my  daughter,  1 
will  endeavor  to  keep  this  sacred  promise  made  before  God 
and  these  witnesses. 

NON-SECTARIAN  TEACHING  IN  THE  PUBLIC 

SCHOOLS. 

In  our  Public  Schools,  where  the  children  of  various  denom- 
inations are  sent,  no  peculiar  views  of  morality  and  religion 
taught  by  any  particular  sect  should  be  permitted  to  predom- 
inate. For  by  favoring  the  views  of  one  sect  the  teacher 
would  unjustly  ignore  those  of  other  sects,  and  all  have  equal 
rights.  What  then  of  morality  and  religion  may  be  taught  in 

255 


TAXATION   OF  CIU'RCIIES. 

our  Public  Schools,  with  justice  to  all?     Only  those  principle* 
of  truth  and  right  which  are  common  to  all  sects  and  religions. 

ON  TAXATION  OF  CHURCHES. 

In  regard  to  churches  being1  exempted  from  taxation,  it 
seems  to  me  that  religious  as  well  as  moral  principles  should 
decide  each  member  of  every  religious  sect  not  only  to  submit 
to  taxation  but  to  insist  upon  it;  and  for  these  reasons:— 

The  different  religious  sects  in  a  given  city  vary  in  their 
tenets.  And  each  holds  its  own  articles  of  belief  to  be  right 
and  those  of  the  other  sects  wrong.  And  each  regrets  that  the 
others  should  propagate  erroneous  and  pernicious  doctrines. 
The  "  Orthodox  "  condemn  the  "  Unitarians  "  and  the  "  Univers- 
alists,"  and  they  in  turn  denounce  the  former;  and  the  Catholics 
condemn  all  other  sects  of  Christendom.  Each  and  all  sects 
are  right  in  adopting  sincerely  what  they  believe  to  be  the 
truth ;  and  it  is  their  sacred  duty  to  oppose  by  all  lawful  methods 
the  propagation  of  what  they  believe  to  be  error.  Now,  as 
the  taxes  are  paid  by  all  in  the  community,  each  sect,  if  its 
churches  are  exempt  from  taxation,  is  supported  by  enforced 
contributions  from  those  of  other  faiths.  And  any  one  who 
could  not  with  a  clear  conscience  contribute  voluntarily  for 
the  support  of  religious  views  he  did  not  profess  should  not 
be  compelled  to  do  so  involuntarily  by  a  public  tax.  Each  and 
every  member  of  any  church  pays,  as  a  citizen,  his  proportion 
to  make  up  for  the  tax-deficit  caused  by  the  exemption  from 
taxation  of  all  church  property.  And  if  the  principles  of  justice 
were  observed,  and  he  were  not  compelled  in  this  way  to  help 

256 


.-upporl  churches  whose  doctrines  he  did  not  believe  in,  itwould 
cost  him  but  a  little  more  than  it  docs  no\v  to  sii])port  the 
church  of  hi>  own  faith,  and  pay  the  tax  which  \vould  then  be 
levied  upon  it.  All  offerings  in  the  way  of  churches  and  their 
support  should  be  free  and  voluntary  on  the  part  of  religious 
societies.  Otherwise  an  unwilling  tribute  is  accepted  from 
outsiders  \\  ho  belong  to  no  church,  and  from  outsiders  who 
belong  to  other  churches  and  who  often  feel  that  only  their  own 
form  of  belief  is  right. 

GRATITUDE  TO  GOD. 
Our    gratitude    to    God    is    proven    bv    our    disinterested 

o  «/ 

courtesy,  justice  and  reasonable  kindness  to  each  other.  Since 
God  is  manifested  in  others,  as  in  ourselves  and  in  all  living 
creatures,  we  may  come  face  to  face  with  the  great  Power  that 
animates  all  Nature.  And  reason  may  be  likened  to  a  spark 
of  the  intelligence  of  God  Himself. 

GOD   WITH   US. 

Man  has  no  need  to  go  back  two  thousand  years  to  find 
God.  He  is  here  with  us  in  our  own  age.  He  is  living,  and 
abides  with  us  every  day  and  every  moment,  as  in  the  past 
and  forever-more.  When  are  we  nearest  to  God  ?  We  can 
appreciate  Him  best  at  the  present  time ;  the  hour  in  which  we 
are  living.  Nor  need  we  go  afar  off  to  find  God,  for  He  is 
manifested  in  our  own  minds  and  hearts.  Although  it  may  be 
true  that  He  resides  in  the  heavens,  in  the  planets  and  suns  of 

267 


GOD,  GRATITUDE.  OIJEDIKNCK. 

the   universe,  yet    each   and   all   of  us   may    know   Him    as   we 
know  a  father,  a  mother  or  a  friend. 

EACH  SHARES  WITH   ALL. 

No  man  can  he  happy  without  imparting1  a  share  of  happi- 
ness to  others:  no  man  can  be  miserable  without  reflecting  a 
portion  of  his  misery  upon  others.  Hence,  let  us  cultivate 
happiness  and  root  out  misery,  as  we  would  a  poisonous  weed, 
from  the  world  !  And  as  a  fond  parent  is  delighted  with  the 
Indications  of  intelligence  in  his  child,  so  we  may  imagine  God 
to  be  pleased  with  man's  gradual  advancement  in  the  sciences, 
in  the  arts  and  in  all  things  which  contribute  to  our  well- 
being  and  happiness  ! 

PICTURES  IN  A  CHURCH. 

Representations  of  fruits  and  flowers  for  example,  hung 
where  they  may  be  easily  seen,  remind  us  of  the  goodness  and 
kindness  of  the  Supreme  Power  who  like  a  loving  parent  has 
created  and  provided  them  especially  for  mankind.  As  we 
are  grateful  to  each  other  for  gifts  received,  and  place  them  in 
prominence,  and  make  grateful  acknowledgments,  so  should 
we  place  in  prominence  the  gifts  of  God.  With  this  thought 
we  hang  these  fruit  and  flower  representations  to  incite  the 
feeling  of  gratitude  that  ought  to  fill  every  mind. 

GOD,  GRATITUDE,  OBEDIENCE. 

A  true  religion,  such  as  I  think  we  should  all  be  guided 
by,  and  such  as  I  propose  and  hope  to  have  taught  in  the 

258 


Tin;  rsi;  OF  srxDAY. 

clinpd  I  have    erected,   rests    upon    three   fundamental   princi- 
ple^, as  lollo\v>  :  — 

First:  An  liuinl>lc  acknowledgment  of  the  existence  of 
an  intelligent  and  beneficent  Power  superior  to  humanity, 
which  we  call  <  i<»d. 

Second:  In  acknowledging  t  hat  life  and  all  its  blessings 
rto\v  from  this  beneficent  Power,  we  must  acknowledge  also 
that  (KM!  is  entitled  to  our  highest  gratitude. 

Third:  Being  only  humble,  but  still  grateful  recipients 
of  (iod's  bounty,  our  obedience  to  his  laws,  which  were  insti- 
tuted in  wisdom  to  be  obeyed,  is  the  return  we  should  make 
for  all  benefits  received:  and  by  such  obedience  we  conform 
ourselves  to  God's  will  and  further  His  intents. 

These  I  claim  to  be  the  three  fundamental  principles  of  a 
religion  which  will  embrace  all  our  duties  to  God,  to  each 
other,  to  society  and  to  the  world. 

On  the  platform  of  these  three  great  principles, —  God, 
Gratitude  and  Obedience,  —  it  seems  to  me  that  we  can  all 
stand. 

THE  USE  OF  SUNDAY. 

As  respects  Sunday,  I  believe  in  setting  apart  one  day  in 
seven  for  the  purpose  of  assembling  and  acknowledging  in  an 
appropriate  manner  our  indebtedness  to  God  for  life  and  its 
enjoyments,  for  instruction  on  moral  and  religious  subjects, 
and  to  listen  to  sincere  and  intelligent  teachers  of  science  and 
of  enlightened  thought;  —  all  this,  —  with  music  and  poetry 
in  harmony  with  our  sentiments  and  feelings,  ought  to  make 
our  Sunday  gatherings  most  dear  and  interesting  to  us  all. 

250 


TRUE  WORSHIP. 

TRUE  WORSHIP. 

As   to    Prayer  in   such    assemblies,   we   should    avoid    all 
forms  antagonistic-  to  reason  and  such  as  a   reflecting    person 
could  not  participate  in.     What  should  we.  think  of  the  mental 
capacity  of  a  child  who  should  pertinaciously  go  to  his  father 
every  morning   and  beg   for   the   water,   bread,   clothing-  and 
other    things    he  should   require    for    that    day  V     Before   the 
father's   patience  was   exhausted   he  might  say,  "My  son,  all 
these  things  are  provided  for  you  daily;  your  continued  ask- 
ing for  them  betokens  great  blindness  or  little  faith."     God  is 
the  Father  of  us  all,  and  supplies  us  with  the  means  of  obtain- 
ing all  things  necessary  for  us  more  fully  than  the  parent  sup- 
plies voluntarily  the  wants  of  his  child.     Hence  we  may  pray 
to  and  beg  from  each  other  with  much  more  propriety  than  we 
can  appeal  to  God  for  such  gifts.     But  I  claim  that  we  can 
replace  the  ordinary  forms  of  prayer  by  something  better.     I 
see  no  impropriety  in  a  person  rising  with  becoming  reverence 
and    solemnity,   and   uttering  in  fit    language  an  address  of 
thanksgiving   to   the   God    who    is    actually   present    in    the 
humanity   assembled.     With  voice  and  instruments  of  music, 
with  tender  emotion  and  grateful  hearts,  let  us  sing  and  recite 
of  God's  goodness  in  giving  us  life  and  its  manifold  enjoy- 
ments ! 


260 


THE    FOLLOWING 


"AXIOMATIC   STATEMENTS' 


ARE     LETTERED     UPON     THE     PANELS     OF     THE    DOORS     LEADING     FROM 

THE    OUTER     HALL    INTO     THE     MAIN     AUDIENCE-ROOM     AND 

VESTRY     OF    BELL    STREET    CHAPEL. 


MAN 

IS    A 
RECIPIENT 

OF 

GOD'S  BOUNTY. 

TO  ENJOY   LIFH 

RATIONALLY 

AND   FULLY 

IS  TO  FURTHER 

GOD'S  WILL 

AND    INTFNT. 


ALL 

SCIENTIFIC 
TRUTH 

IS 
KNOWLEDGE 

OF 

GOD 

AND  HIS  WAYS 

OF 
WISDOM 

AND 
KINDNESS. 


THE 

THE  TRUTHS 

LAWS 

OF 

OF 

SCIENCE 

NATURE 

AND 

ARE   THE 

LAWS 

RELIGION 

OF 

PERFECTLY 

GOD. 

ACCORD. 

LET  US  DO  OUR 

DUTY 

TO 

GOD 

FROM 

A 
PRINCIPLE 

OF 

HONOR 
BECAUSE 

IT  IS 
RIGHT. 


LET    US 

VINDICATE 

THE  WAYS  OF 

GOD 

TO 

MAN. 

GOD 

IS 

NOT 

RESPONSIBLE 

FOR  THE 

CRIMES 

OF 
HUMANITY. 


NOT 
FROM  FEAR 

OF 

PUNISHMENT 

OR  HOPE  OF 

REWARD. 


IT  IS 

POSSIBLE 
FOR 
MAN 

TO   ERADICATE 
ERROR 

AND 
CRIME. 


PRAISE 

AND 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

NOT 
PRAYER. 

LET   US  NOT  SAY 
GIVE  US! 

BUT 

RATHER 
THOU  HAST 
!  GIVEN  US! 


FEAR   NOT 

DEATH ! 
THE  SAME  WISE 

AND 
BENEFICENT 

POWER 
THAT  GAVE   YOU 

LIFE 

PRESIDES   EQUALLY 

AT  YOUR 

DEATH. 

TRUST  IN  GOD! 


MAN 

THE  INFANT 

BEING  FREE   AND 

SMILES  NOT 

SOVEREIGN 

CREATES 

UPON  ITS  MOTHER 

CIRCUMSTANCES 

BUT 

AND  IS 

GOD  SMILES 

RESPONSIBLE 

THROUGH 

FOR 

ERROR  AND   CRIME. 

THE  INFANT. 

WE 

BELIEVE    IN 
GOD 

IN 
HUMILITY 

IN 
GRATITUDE 

AND 

OBEDIENCE 
TO  HIS 
LAWS. 


LHT    US 
CONSECRATE 

A 

TEMPLE 

TO 

GOD 

TO      « 
TRUTH 

AND 
HUMANITY. 


MIND 

MATTER 

AND 

GOD 

ARE   CO-EXISTENT 

AND 
CO-ETERNAL. 


THE 
INTELLIGENT 

AND 

GOOD 

LIVE  NEAR 

TO 
GOD. 


INVOLUTION 

BEFORE 

EVOLUTION 

A  THINKING  POWER 

HIGHER  AND  NOBLER 

THAN 

HUMANITY 

EXISTS 

BEHIND 

ALL 

AND 

THROUGH 
ALL. 


THE 

PERFORMANCE 

OF  OUR 

HIGHEST 

DUTIES 

IS  OUR 

HIGHEST 

PRIVILEGE. 

GIVE    US 
A  TRUE  AND   MANLY 

RELIGION 

THAT  COVERS  THE 

WHOLE  FIELD   OF 

DUTY 

TO 

GOD 

AND 

HUMANITY. 

V 


LET   US 

GIVEN  A   FAIR 

CHERISH 

AND  EQUAL   CHANCE 

THE 

THE  GRASS  OF 

COURTESIES 

TRUTH 

AND 

WILL  CUT  OUT  THE 

AMENITIES 

WEEDS 

OF 

OF 

LIFE. 

ERROR. 

MANY 

NO 

CHRISTIAN 

SACRIFICE 

BELIEFS 

OR 

WORSHIP 

OF 

CAN   BE 

TO-DAY 

ACCEPTABLE 

WILL 

TO 

BECOME 

GOD 

THE 

THAT  DOES   NOT 

REJECTED 

PROMOTE 

THE 

- 

HEATHENISMS 

HAPPINESS 

OF  THE 

OF 

FUTURE. 

MANKIND. 

ORGANIZED 

BE 

ERROR 

GRATEFUL 

IS  MORE  POWERFUL 

TO  AND 

THAN 

TRUSTFUL 

UNORGANIZED 

IN 

TRUTH. 

GOD. 

UUSB    LIBRARY. 


. 


'M^&l 

<w/.* 


